The Promise of a life
by meganlucindaxo
Summary: Gemma was chosen for the 67th Hunger games. There's only one problem - she has a year old daughter. Will she make it out alive to be able to care for her child? Read and find out. My first FanFic!
1. Chapter 1

_Hey Guys! This is the first chapter of my first story, The promise of a life! I hope you like it! :) Feel free to Review and/or PM me :) _

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the hunger games. I wish I do, but I don't.**_

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><p>I wake up to crying. <em>Of course she's crying, she's always crying. <em>I slide out of bed and pick up the crying baby from her crib, before she can wake up my mother. I take a glance at the clock: _4:27AM. _Wonderful. I decide against going back to bed, so I just stay up with Trixie instead.

Today is reaping day, I should be allowed to sleep in. Last year this time I was in labor – about to give birth. That got me out of the reaping, luckily. So, instead of going to the reaping last year, I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. Yes, she's gotten so much easier over the past year, but it's still hard.

I head downstairs after finally getting her to stop crying. I fix a mug of hot chocolate for me and milk for Trix. "Happy Birthday Trixie." I tell her with a smile. Me and my family live in district 1, we've always had a lot of money, so we get to have special things like hot chocolate.

My father works in the capitol most of the time, so he's back and forth from there and district 1 a lot. But back here, my family owns a very popular jewelry store here in 1. Pretty much everyone knew me from working there, so becoming pregnant at 16 is a huge deal. No one ever looked at me the same again, not even my own Mother! Lots of people considered me dirty and a slut. Even my boyfriend at the time, Trixie's father, shunned me when I told him. I was left with no one supporting me, besides from my best friend Carter and my father, but he was gone most of the time.

Me and Carter have been friends forever, since the first day of school. He was held back two grades, and was the biggest kid in our class. I remember the teacher was showing us different types of jewels. She held up a ruby, and Carter found his way over to me. He started asking me all kinds of questions about my favorite kinds of jewels. I gave him simple answers, telling him my favorite was the ruby. He smiled his dazzling smile, and then plopped down into a seat next to me, telling me I was his new friend, wither I liked it or not. Of course, me being so tiny at the time would never object to the biggest kid in class, so we were sworn to be friends.

Trixie wakes me from my daydream, by crying again. _Oh no!_ I grab her up and try my best to sooth her, hoping she won't wake my mother. I spoke to soon. I hear my mother come thumping down the stairs.

"Shut that damn baby up, Gemma! Dammit!" She walks over and slaps me across the face. Ever since I told her I was pregnant, she became abusive to me – verbally and physically.

"I'm sorry." I mumble to here, cradling Trixie even closer to my chest.

"I swear, if you don't do something about that crying I will! I'll bring her to Snow and he'll cut out her tongue!"

My eyes widen, because I know she's completely serious. She's friends with President Snow, and I know she wouldn't hesitate to grab my daughter and bring her to him.

"Don't you ever talk like that! That's not something to joke about!"

She thinks this is absolutely hilarious. She is completely out of herself laughing. "Who said I was joking! I'm serious! Shut her up or by the time you get back from the reaping she'll be silent forever!"

Trixie's stopped crying by this point. I rush up the stairs, leaving my mother with her mouth gaping open.

"Excuse me!" she shouts up at me, "Come back here when I'm talking to you!"

_I wish dad was here._ I sigh. He would never stand for her treating me and Trixie like this. He loves Trixie with all of his heart, as much as he loved me. But he's away most of the time and I miss him a lot. "I'm leaving! I'm moving in with Carter for the time being!"

I hear her snort before I slam my door. I place Trixie in her crib, and grab a suitcase. I stuff some of my clothes, along with all of Trixie's stuff in there. Then I take her out, lay her on my bed, and fold up her crib.

I grab her up in my arms, slide the folded crib under my arm, and carry the suitcase in the other hand. I run down the stairs, and my mother is standing by the door. "If you walk out this door right now, you are not welcome back inside my home."

Now it's my turn to snort. As soon as dad comes home he'll have me back here faster than you would believe. I'll call him in a few hours, after the reaping. I just push past my Mother and walk out into the darkness.

I grab Trixies stroller I keep outside and place her in it, shoving the crib on top. Then I head to Carters house.

Once there I pound on his door. He lives alone luckily, in a tiny house. He's 19, so yes; it's a bit of a difference from me being 17, but whatever. "Carter! Please open up! Please!" I realize I've started to cry. I pound on the door again.

He finally answers, wearing only his boxers. He's still half asleep. He squints open his eyes, sees me crying and helps me inside. "Whoa whoa whoa! What happen, Gem?"

I pull him into a hug, forgetting about Trixie right now. "She kicked me out, Carter. I have nowhere to go! What am I going to do!"

"Sh. It'll be fine, Gem. You and Trix can stay here for a while. Sh." He soothes.

Once I'm calmed down enough, I pull away from him. "Thank you Carter. I can never thank you enough. And I'm sorry, by the way."

"Sorry? For what? It's not your fault?" He's confused.

I flash my eyes down to his boxers, "For… waking you up?" I say with a tiny grin.

"Oh!" He blushes crazily and runs to his room. He returns a few seconds later with pajama pants on.

"Go back to bed. I'm going to stay up with her now." I smile and he asks me if I'm sure. "Yes. Positive. Thanks."

He heads back to his room. And I pick up Trixie. "Well Trix, this is going to be more of a home to either of us than we had before." She smiles her little one year old smile, and I sit back on the couch, rocking her to sleep.

A few hours later, around 10 O'clock, Carter finally comes downstairs. I must look crazy, because he asks me if I want to shower. "Thanks." I tell him as I hand over Trixie. He loves playing with her, and he can take care of her well enough. His family has more money than ours, with his uncle and cousin being a victor, so he doesn't even have to work!

After I'm looking suitable enough, and we both have had breakfast, along with Trixie, we head off to the reaping. I take Trixie to the 17 year old section with me. I don't want to leave her, she calms me.

Our Escort walks onto the stage. I recognize her; she was one of our customers once. She was one of the ones that didn't treat me any different when she found out I was pregnant. "Welcome District 1!" She says in her fake Capitol accent. "Well, this is such a lovely district! Let's get on with picking our Wonderful tributes, shall we?"

I grip Trixie tighter, as if she's going to come and take her away from me. She announces that the Male will be chosen first. "Hunter Mason!" A tiny guy, he must only be 12, burst out crying and makes his way to the stage. I feel bad. She calls for volunteers, a big group of guys race to the front.

"I'm Ky Green and I volunteer!" He's the first one to the stage, and he's attractive. Really attractive. And he's huge, all muscle. He scares me.

Our escort squeals in delight "Wonderful! This is going to be so exciting! Now our female tribute! Emma Sto!" I let out a breath I've been holding, relieved. "Is there an Emma Sto here?" She looks around, no one moves. "OH!" she turns bright pink. "I'm sorry! My mistake! The female tribute is Gemma Stone!" My jaw drops, and I grip the baby tighter in my arms. _Don't panic, someone will volunteer. _

I silently walk onto the stage, repeating that over and over in my head._ Don't panic, someone will volunteer. Don't panic, someone will volunteer. Don't panic, someone will volunteer. _I hear gasps coming from the audience, so I turn to look at them. I then realize I'm holding Trixie, and that's what they're shocked about.

"Are there any volunteers?" No one moves. _PLEASE! PLEASE I HAVE A DAUGHTER!_ I'm shouting in my head. Tears slip down my cheeks. "Looks like there are no volunteers! You're Gemma, correct?" I nod silently. "And who is this?" She nods in Trix's direction.

"This is Trixie, my daughter." I say in barely a whisper. Any louder and I'm scared I'll break down.

"Well well well… that is just too bad!" she turns back to the audience, "Looks like that's it for the reaping for district 1! Happy hunger games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Ky shakes my hand, and rubs Trix's. He smiles at both of us, then walks off the stage. _Maybe he isn't so bad._

I fall to the ground, just clutching my baby and crying. Peacekeepers come and grab my arms, screaming at me to move. "Don't touch my child! I'll move! Stop!" They let go, and I follow along.

They push me into a room, and I find a couch. I'm surprised Trixie hasn't cried throughout this whole time. Carter burst into my room, rushing over to me. He's my only visitor, so I spend the hour with him. "She's going to kill her, Carter!" I manage to spit out between sobs.

"What! Who?" He cradles me into his chest, much like I'm doing to Trixie.

"My mother. She told me this morning she would take her to president snow, and- and-" I can't finish it, I break down in sobs.

"Sh, Gemma. It's okay. I promise you she won't touch her. Ok? I will keep Trixie with me until you come home."

I look up at him, "I'm not going to come home though Carter."

"Yes you are. You aren't just fighting for your life Gemma! You're fighting for hers too! You need to pretend you can't do anything, then show them all in the arena, okay? Don't show them what you can do! Fake it!" I know what he's saying. I've been training for the games as long as I can remember, until my belly started to show, and it was to hard to move around. Then I stopped. But I am still very skilled.

"I'll try-"

"No! I want you to promise me you'll come home, Gemma!"

"Fine. I promise."

Then he does the unimaginable. Carter kisses me._ He _kisses me! I kiss him back, of course. "You need to. Not just for Trix, but for me. I love you."

This brings on a whole new round of tears for me, and I hug him and tell him I love him too. He pulls away from me, and hauls out something from his pocket. It's a necklace with a Ruby on the end of it. It's beautiful, and I gasp. "Oh… Carter." I don't know what to say.

He smiles and places it around my neck. The ruby is in the shape of a heart. "I was going to give it to you for your 18th birthday, but now is a better time, I think. Take it as your token?"

"Of course! I love it. Thank you so much Carter!"

Then a peacekeeper comes in the door and says it's time to leave. I kiss Trixie's head, promise her I'll come home to her, and tell her I love her before painfully handing her to Carter. He's almost out the door when he turns around, "I'll see you soon, okay?"

I smile a true smile that I haven't shown in ages, "I'll see you soon." Then he's gone, and I'm not sure if I'll see him again.


	2. Chapter 2

_Here's chapter 2 :) Review, Review, Review! And thanks again :)_

_**Disclaimer**: I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>As soon as Carter left, the peacekeepers came to take me away. But, me being as stubborn as I am told them I wasn't going anywhere and that I wanted my baby back. That wasn't a very smart move. One of the peacekeepers simply picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. It finally hit me that they were sending me off to the hunger games, and I started freaking out. I was kicking him and screaming and punching and everything. He dropped me once, but I didn't get very far before the other peacekeepers put me in handcuffs and shackles and dragged me to the train station.<p>

And to top off my perfect day, there were cameras there, filming & taking pictures of me.

I just entered the train, and they are removing my handcuffs and shackles. I'm pretending to be nice, but as soon as they're off, I make a bolt for the door, hitting and kicking the peacekeepers in my way.

One grabs my arm and smiles at me, "A feisty one, eh?" My eyes widen and I'm terrified. I feel a sudden prick in my neck and I feel myself falling to the floor. The world suddenly goes black.

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><p>"Gemma, Gemma wake up." I feel someone shaking me.<p>

"Carter?" I squint open my eyes a little to see a guy smiling at me.

"No, I'm Ky. Your district partner? Come on, get up." And with that he grabs my waist and picks me up. It makes me uncomfortable but I figure he's just trying to help.

"What happen? Did I get hit by the train?" I ask him a little more hopeful than I should, considering I have a daughter at home that needs me.

He grabs my hand and starts to drag me down the hall. He laughs, "No. You went wild after you stepped onto the train, and they had to sedate you. Remember?"

"Oh shit… Was I really that bad?" I mumble.

"Um, yeah. You broke one peacekeeper's nose, along with another's rib, and another's ankle! You were being really nuts!" I know he's only joking but I take this to offence. I stop him, grab him by his arms and push him into the wall.

"Don't you dare tell me I'm nuts. It's not my fault I want to go home to take care of my daughter instead of going into an arena filled with people who want me dead!" I realize I'm crying again now, and let go of him to bury my face in my hands instead.

"Hey, I'm sorry, ok? I was only joking! I know you're not nuts!"

I don't reply, I just keep walking in the direction we were going. A door opens and we are in a huge room, filled with a lot of food and tables.

"Over here." Ky guilds me over to a table with 3 people sat down to it. I recognize them immediately – Our escort from earlier, and our two mentors; Esmeralda Shine & Mitchell Chuck. Normally, it would be Cashmere & Gloss as our mentors, but Esmeralda & Mitchell thought it was only fair for them to take a turn sending 2 kids off to their deaths.

Mitchell grins when he sees me, "Glad to see you finally joining us, Ms. Stone."

"Gemma. Please." I hate when people call me Ms. Stone. It makes me sound old.

"Okay then, _Gemma. _You've been out for quite a while, so we are going to cut right to it. Would you two rather be mentored together or separately?"

"Separate. Definitely." I answer very quickly. Ky looks hurt. I turn to him, "Sorry. I'm not being a career, and knowing you, you probably will be. So why should we be? It will only be an advantage for you."

He just nods. Mitchell cuts back in, "Separate it is. Esmeralda will be you mentor, Gemma; and I'll be yours Ky." Dinner is served to us, it doesn't look all that appetizing, but I force myself to eat it anyways. I can't stop thinking about Trixie and Carter. I start to get lost in my day dreams.

_It was the first time I brought Trixie home from the hospital. It was the day after the reaping, and I didn't know who was chosen. I was so worried it was Carter. But sure enough, he was the one to come pick me up, in his Uncle's brand new car. "Hey." He greeted me with a smile. _I really miss that smile. I wish he was here now._ I showed him the very tiny Trixie, and he was ecstatic. He said it was going to be like his little sister he never wanted. I couldn't stop laughing at-_

"Hello? Gemma!" I snap back to reality at Mitchell's voice. "Did you get any of that?"

I look at him puzzled, then around the table. Everyone's looking at me like I'm crazy. I guess I am. I have a kid at 16, then when I get reaped I go crazy lashing out at peacekeepers, and then I zone out at random times. "Oh. What. Yes. No?"

He just sighs, and our escort is muttering something under her breath. I catch a glimpse at Esmeralda, she's staring at me, and so I glare at her. "What were you thinking about Gemma?" She asks me.

I smile a bit at my thought, and then remember where I am. Then my mood changes and I feel very sad again. I whisper, "About the first time I brought Trixie home."

She smiles. "Trixie's your daughter, right?"

"Well yes. I'm not going to carry a random baby up on stage with me. You know, today is her birthday? Now she's going to think that her birthday is the worst day of the year, just because her own mother got sent off to her own death on that day!" My hands fasten around a knife that's placed beside me on the table, and everyone stares at me in shock and horror. I wouldn't blame them, I'm scared of myself. I didn't even realize I was gripping the knife in the first place. "W-What's wrong with me?" I whisper as I drop the knife.

Esmeralda leans her hand over, and places it on top of mine. "Nothing's wrong with you. You are just worried about your daughter. And trust me when I say I will do everything I can to help you come home."

I don't reply, I just glare at her and stand up from the table, pushing my chair in politely, as if to mock our escort who is always complaining about manners, before storming off to my room. I curl up on my bed, and cry and cry and cry in the dark, thinking about what Trixie and Carter must be doing right now.

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><p>I wake up from a thud on my door. I look out of the window, and it's light out. We must have already arrived at the capitol. Sometime last night I managed to shove on a pair of Shorts and a tank top to sleep in, so I answer the door wearing that. "Uh huh?"<p>

It's our escort, of course. "You are expected to be changed and ready for breakfast in 15 minutes. We have just arrived at the Capitol, and we're the first ones here! The opening ceremonies aren't until tomorrow night, so you have all today and tonight to do whatever you please." And with that she leaves me in the doorway half asleep to go wake up Ky.

I close the door and go get a plain pink t shirt and some black skinny jeans. I get cleaned up and then walk out for breakfast. It's only Esmeralda there, which I'm surprised about. I sit down across from her. "Eating?" I ask her.

She shakes her head, "Nah. I'm not a breakfast person. You?"

"No. I'm just going to have some hot chocolate." I order some from an avox. _If I don't come home, and my mother gets her hands on my daughter that could be her one day. _The thought brings tears to my eyes. She returns with the drink, and I take a sip.

"Hey Gemma?" I didn't notice she was watching me.

"Yeah?" I ask her.

"Can you tell me about your daughter?"

I smile, "Well… She's beautiful. You'll never meet a little girl as cute as her. Besides from me, she doesn't really have anyone… Her father left when I told him I was pregnant, and my mom hates her. Then of course there's Carter but-"

"Wait, who's Carter?" She interrupts me.

"He's… He's-" I feel my bottom lip quivering and I can't get it out.

"It's fine Gemma. Let's stop talking about it, okay?" I nod. "Okay, well, what are you going to do all day?"

I think for a minute. "I don't really know. I think I might just have a me-day. Order a bunch of food that isn't healthy and watch movies all day, you know?" She laughs, and I offer her a tiny smile. "Oh, and I want to write letters. To my family. At home."

"I see. That sounds like fun." I giggle, and then go serious.

"Do you think I'd be allowed to write a letter for Trixie for when she's older? Like… If I don't come out of there? So when she's a teenager she can receive some letters from me?"

She gives me a genuinely kind smile. "Of course. That's a great idea." And with that she gets up with her coffee and walks away, leaving me at the table alone.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey guys! I'm home sick today, with nothing else to do but write, so I figured I would post 2 or 3 chapters today! :)_

_Review? Please? :)_

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own the hunger games._

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><p>Eventually Ky, Mitchell, and our escort, whose name I found out is Penelope, join me at the table. They make small talk, but I ignore them. I see Penelope get up from her chair, and walk towards the door of the train, signalling for us to follow. I look at Ky, and he just shrugs.<p>

Penelope guilds us into a huge building, the training tower, and shove us into an elevator. I stumble and growl at her, "Watch it!"

Her eyes grow wide and she mumbles a sorry. _That's right. Don't mess with me! _

"This is our Floor!" She explains as she presses the button with a 1 on it. "The 5 of us will each have a room here. If you ever get lost, or something's wrong, just go to this floor and you'll be fine. There's avox everywhere!" It makes me sick to imagine all of the people being forced to have their tongues removed to be slaves for these freaks.

The elevator _DINGS _and I am the first one out. I walk to the room that says _"Gemma Stone" _written on it. I push open the door and gasp. The room is beautiful. It feels homey in here. The walls are a soft pink, and there is a bed, dresser, sofa, TV, desk, and table all in it. Along with a huge bathroom, with a shower AND bathtub in it. I've never seen anything like it. Then I see it. On the table. It's a picture of me, Carson, and Trixie my mother took for me when Trixie first came home. It's my favorite picture ever.

I run over to it, and grab it up in my arms. Tears flow down my cheeks, remembering the day. Right next to it I find a teeny tiny Ruby. I take it up in my hand. "They allow all tributes to have one photo of their families or friends in their room now. I don't really know why that Ruby is there." I hear Penelope say from the doorway.

I can't find any words. I just look at the picture and sink to my knees, bawling my eyes out. I look over my shoulder and notice that my escort is gone. I jump up and run over to the door to slam it close. _Time to write my letters, I guess. _I think to myself as I walk over to the desk, where there are a bunch of paper, pens, pencils & envelopes. I decide to write one to My mother & Father, Carter, and Trixie for when she turns 12.

I sit down and begin to write:

_Dear Mother and Father, _

_I don't really know how to start this letter. There is so much that I want to be able to tell you, but I'm not sure how. So I will just start with the simple things. _

_Yes, if you're reading this, I am dead. I died in the hunger games, which are a few short days away from the time I am writing this. I am sat here, at my desk in my beautiful room in the training center, looking at a picture of Trixie, Carter and myself. These are my two favorite people in the world. I love them so much. They both have been more of a family to me than either of you have ever been, unfortunately. That doesn't mean I don't love both of you, though. Because I do. A lot. _

_It's just, father… you left our family. Yes, I know you meant well, and you were trying to help us. But you were gone so much. I barely saw you. Do you regret not seeing me more? Now that I'm gone? Don't. I know you loved me more than anything and you were just trying to help. I understand, I just… missed you._

_And mother; where to begin with you? Since I told you I was pregnant with my baby, you have been abusive to me. I doubt you even realized it, because you are so self centered, but it hurt me. We used to be so close. What happen? I wish nothing had to change. And I regret the way I said goodbye to you for the last time, by snorting in your face and walking out the door. I'm sorry. But I do not regret having my child. She is the greatest thing that's happen in my life, whither you like it or not. I don't really care if you do or don't, to be honest. _

_So this is my final good bye to both of you. I just want you both to know, that despite everything we've been through, I love you… But I don't want you to hold back on living your life just because of me. Seriously. _

_With all of my love, forever and always,_

_Your daughter, Gemma. _

_By the way, Father, take care of Trixie. She will need help in life. And if you even lay a finger on her, Mother, so help me god._

Maybe that wasn't the kindest last letter to my parents. Oh well. It's all true. Time to move onto Carters…

_Dear Carter, _

_I know this will be hard for you to read, but please, read it. I love you with all of my heart, since that first day I saw you in class. You have done so much for me over these years, and I will never be able to make it up to you. But I want to ask you one more thing, one last wish if you will. Please keep Trixie safe. My mother will get her killed if she gets a hand on her, and I can't let that happen. _

_It must have been horrible to watch me die on television; because I know it would have been unbearable for me to have to watch you, if I was in your position. But I want you to be happy, please. Marry someone, love someone again. Don't let me hold you back. Because eventually, when you die, I will meet you again, up in heaven, and we will be happily in love. But that isn't going to be for another 100 years, because I won't let you die until then! _

_By the way, I want you to know, that when you guys are burying me back home, to make sure I'm wearing my beautiful Ruby necklace you gave me, and in my hands is a picture of me, you, and Trixie. Please. If I'm going to be sleeping for a while, that's the two things I want with me._

_Attached to this letter is a letter I want you to give to Trixie when she is 12 years old. On the reaping day. On her birthday. It would really mean a lot to me if you did. _

_There is so much I could say to you, but I'm crying too much right now to write anymore… Please stay safe, and find happiness for you and Trixie. You both deserve it. _

_I love you so much, don't ever forget it…_

_Your Guardian Angel,_

_Gemma _

The sobs take over my body. I shouldn't have written that just then, I should have waited. It's too late now, it's done. I let the tear fall on the paper before I neatly put it on top of the one for my parents. I will have to wait until I am finished crying to write Trixie's. I can't function sobbing like this. It hurts too much.

An hour later, I finally calm down enough to continue writing. I grab another sheet of paper, and start to write.

_Dear my beautiful baby girl, Trixie. _

_Well, I guess you aren't a baby anymore? You're probably wondering who this strange letter is from, that you are just now receiving on your twelfth birthday, also your first reaping day._

_I'm sure Carter has already told you, but I want to tell you myself. I love you more than anyone in the world, Trix. The last time I held you, you were exactly 1 year old. I miss you, so much. The way you used to smile your toothless smile, and cry. Oh what I wouldn't give to be able to go back to the first night when I brought you home from the hospital just to be able to hold you again, to hear your cry again._

_Yes, I'm your mother, in case you're wondering. Right now, I am sat at the desk in my room in the training center, staring at a picture of You, Carter, and Myself when you were first born. I'm going into the games in less than a week. I am glad, in a way, that you are not old enough to remember my games; I do not want you to remember the way I died. Not that I know right now the way I am going to go…_

_The only thing that is keeping me going right now is the thought and hope of returning back to you and Carter. But I guess I failed you both, and I want you to know that I'm sorry._

_I'm sorry for not being there throughout your child hood._

_I'm sorry you had to wait twelve years to receive this letter._

_I'm sorry I had to die, and leave you alone against the world._

_Don't worry though, my baby. I love you more than anything else in this world, and I will be waiting in heaven for you, for when it's your time. We will get to spend so much time together then, and you will get to fill me in on everything I've missed. But I don't want that to be for a very, very long time. I want you to live a long and happy life. Don't worry, I'm patient! _

_Please, be safe & happy. And enjoy your birthday, love. _

_I love you with all of my heart,_

_Your Mother, Gemma._

I re-read the letter over and over before attaching it onto Carter's, folding it, and putting it into an envelope. I do the same to my parents. Only 2 letters. I walk into my giant bathroom and wash my face with ice cold water. I then leave my room, to search for someone to talk to.


	4. Chapter 4

_And here's chapter 4! I'll probably post one more chapter today, after I get it written, about the opening ceremonies! :)_

_I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>I set off down the hall, and guess who I run into? Penelope! Of course.<p>

"Have you been crying?" She asks me while taking a step to close to me for my liking.

"What's it to you, if I have?" I tell her with a hint of anger coming out in my tone, which I didn't necessarily mean. She just sighs and turns to walk away from me. "Hey Penelope?"

She twist around on her heals, huge grin on her face. "Yes?"

I have to smile; she gets so excited over everything. "Did any other tributes arrive yet?"

She looks at some papers she's carrying. "Only from district 4!" She tells me, and then she scurries on down the hall.

_4... Hm… OH! Finnick Odair is one of the mentors for 4! _Okay, time for a confession. For 2 years, ever since he won his games, I've had the biggest crush on Finnick Odair. Anyone that knows me would be able to tell you that. I often annoy Carter by talking about him so much, and he hates being in my room, considering it's filled with posters and merchandise that says "_I love Finnick Odair!_" .

I continue down the hall, not really knowing where I'm going. I get in the elevator and press the ground floor button. I get out, and look around. There are plenty of Avoxs running around, I stop one. "Excuse me? Where's the dining room?" I might as well go look for those unhealthy snacks now.

The Avox points into a room, and I walk in. There's no one in there except one girl. _Huh._ I walk over to the buffet line set up of all different types of food. _Ah! Ice cream! That's what I want! _I smile to myself and walk over to the huge ice cream bar. I take up 3 scoops of chocolate ice cream, and pour this sticky and sweet liquid all over it. I taste it with my finger, _yum._

"It's called Caramel!" I hear a voice say from behind me. I jump a mile, and turn around. I see the other girl I saw in here earlier. She holds out her hand to me. "I'm Annabelle. From 4. Who are you?" She seems friendly enough.

"Gemma Stone. I'm from district 1." I say to her as I shake her hand.

"Oh!" She shouts. "You're the one with the kid, right?"

I smile at her, "Uh huh." Then I flip back around to the caramel.

"She's really cute! I saw her, when I watched the reaping recap, you know?" Shit. I forgot.

"Oh… Yeah." I turn to face her again. She's really pretty, with big sea green eyes that are just like Finnick Odairs.

"So… Gemma. What do you say about being… um… friends? While were here. Like allies?" She holds out her hand again.

I grab it without hesitation, "Sure! Sounds great! But I'm no career. Just to let you know."

"Oh, yeah! Me too, I'm not a huge fan of the careers, they are so violent! I'll see you later Gemma, I have to go meet Finnick and Mags, K?"

_Ugh. That girl is so lucky. She gets to spend a lot of time with Finnick! _ "OK, sounds good. Maybe we can see each other during dinner or something? Get to know a bit more about each other?"

She grins, "Totally!" Then walks out the door. I turn around and continue to collect up my ice cream. Once it's piled with enough sweets to feed 3 families for a week in district 12, I walk over to a table and dig in. I suddenly hear someone sit down across from me. I look up.

"Hey." It's Ky. I hope he didn't see me just talk to Annabelle.

"Hi…" I mumble with a mouth full of ice cream.

He laughs at me. "What's so funny?" I demand.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just, this is the first time I've seen you in a good mood. I like it."

I smile. _Why am I in a good mood? It's because I just made a new friend. Right. _"Well, thanks. I guess?"

"Is the ice cream any good?"

"Yes, it's delicious!" We go on with our small talk for a while, until I eventually say I'm going to go back up in my room until dinner. I get up and leave him sat there.

When I get back to my room, I turn on the TV. A re-run of the reaping is playing. I must have missed them when I was passed out on the train. _Oh look, there I am. _I'm the first female to be shown. It goes through the rest of the tributes; no one really stands out to me.

When it's over I hear Penelope announce from the hall that it's dinner. I walk down to the dining hall, and take a seat with my district 1 make-shift family. I'm wondering where Annabelle is, when we are being served desert she comes over to our table. "Um… Hi. Gemma, do you want to come over and hang out at our table for a few minutes?" I smile at her, and take a look at the others faces around the table. Most of them are normal, digging into desert, but Esmeralda raises an eyebrow at me. She must think this is strange because we are the only two districts here. _And I forgot to tell her about my alliance. Oops._

"Yeah. Sure." I get up and walk over to their table with her. _Oh my god, there's Finnick. _He's looking as good as ever.

"Finnick, Mags. This is my new ally I've told you about." They both smile at me, Finnick holds out his hand for me. _What do I do? Calm down Gemma! You are just two teenagers, calm down! _I'm one year older than Finnick, but he looks way older, with his good looks and muscles. I take his hand and shake it, while freaking out on the inside._ Oh my god Finnick just touched my hand. Oh my god._

I sit down in a seat next to Annabelle, across from Mags. "Where's your district partner?" I ask Annabelle.

"Oh, he left a while ago." I just nod and smile.

"So, you're the one with the kid?" Finnick asks me. _He knows about me! _Wait,_ everyone knows about me._

I grin. "That's exactly what Annabelle asked me! But yeah, I'm the one with a daughter."

"What's her name?" This time it's Mags.

"Trixie."

"That's a really nice name." Mags tells me.

"Ou! That sounds like a name that a fairy would have! Is your daughter a fairy, Gemma?" Finnick asks me in a girly voice, blinking his eyelashes obnoxiously. _I love the way he says my name_! I also don't know if this is a complement or an insult, but I just laugh.

"Um, I don't think so?" I ask it more of a question than an answer.

Mags hits Finnick's shoulder, "Oh stop making the girl uncomfortable, Finnick!" Mags talks to Finnick as if he were her own son. I can't help but laugh at them.

Finnick makes a face and mocks Mags. Me and Annabelle are laughing so hard we're almost crying. Mags frowns. "Oh, lighten up Mags! I was only trying to make the girls laugh." Finnick tells her.

She smiles again, "Oh I know Finnick."

"Well, girls. I must go. Duty calls." He gets up from the table and starts to walk away, winking at me in the process. _He just winked at me! Just wait till I tell Carter- _Oh right. I'm more than likely never going to see Carter again. My mood changes and I tell Annabelle and Mags that I have to go get some rest and that I'd see them again tomorrow.

Once I get back to my room, I crawl into my bed still fully clothed, and I fall asleep instantly, dreaming of Carter and Finnick.


	5. Chapter 5

_And this is my last post for the day ! New one again tomorrow ! Hope you like them & Review? :)_

_I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>This morning it's Esmeralda that wakes me up instead of Penelope, surprisingly. I feel her nudging me. "Gemma? Gemma, wake up!"<p>

I just groan and open my eyes. "What!" I snap at her.

"Not a morning person, I see?" She laughs.

"Hm." I close my eyes again, and she throws the blankets off of me. "Hey! I want to go back to sleep!"

"No! You have to meet with your stylists in an hour, and you have to have breakfast first!"

I moan, "Ugh! I don't want breakfast. I'll just have an avox bring me some hot chocolate or something."

"Fine then. But I'm not leaving this room until you are up!"

I sit up, "Alright I'm up! Call me an avox, will you?" She walks out of the room and shout out to an avox that I want hot chocolate. A minute later the Avox knocks on the door with it. Esmeralda brings it over to me, and I take a sip.

"Yum!"

"By the way, you're allies with the district 4 girl? I had to hear about it from Mags! Thanks for telling me."

I roll my eyes and mumble a sorry, and she says it's fine.

Esmeralda laughs. "Now you're not going to like what your stylist and prep team are going to do to you, but I need you to promise me you'll be nice!"

I smirk, "Why do you think I wouldn't be nice? I'm always nice!"

"Yeah, okay, if you say so, Gemma. Promise me."

I sigh. "Fine, I promise."

"Well, I'm going to go join the others for breakfast. Be ready soon, your prep team will soon be here!" She gets up and walks out the door, and I just finish my hot chocolate.

A half hour later my door barges open. 3 ridiculous looking people walk into my room.

"Oh! Look at you!" One of them says. Her voice surprises me, it's very high pitched and annoying. They start to swarm me. "We're your prep team! I'm Eliza, and this is Corbin and Judith! We're going to make you look _fab-u-lous!_ "

They tell me to strip off and to get into the tub that they filled with these different kinds of chemicals. I do as I'm told, gritting my teeth and trying my hardest not to start screaming at these people.

They won't stop talking, it's really annoying. They keep asking me about Trixie, too. "So! You have a daughter? What's her name? How old is she? Who's her father? Do you miss her?"

I simply tell them I don't want to talk about it, and they all back away from me and frown. "Oh, Come on Gemma! Give us something!" The one named Judith says, she has very short brown hair, with bright red eyes. Along with tattoos of swirls and flowers all over her body. She scares me.

"No." They all groan and continue making me flawless. They eventually move on to coating me from head to toe in glitter. "If you three know what's best for you, you will be putting me in more than just this glitter!"

They all laugh like this is the funniest thing in the world, even though I was making a completely serious threat. The guy, Corbin I think his name is, speaks. "Don't worry, Gem! You're going to be gorgeous! Not that you aren't already gorgeous, of course. But-"

I cut him off, "Stop Rambling. Please." He shuts his mouth without another word, and moves onto my hair.

"Shut your eyes!" Eliza tells me. She's doing my makeup. I zone out, and decide I'm going to daydream instead.

_I had just told Carter I was going out with Justin (Trixie's biological father). "I know him, Gemma! He's no good for you! He's scum! You deserve someone way better than him! Didn't you ever hear about Kiera?" Of course I heard about Kiera, she was the most talked about girl in our school, and not in a good way. "He went out with her for a week, slept with her, and left her! Then he just moved onto another girl! He's a player, Gem!" _

_I got mad at him; it was the first real fight we had in forever. I pretty much told him off, telling him that Justin was better than him in every way. I still remember that face he gave me; it was just of pure sadness and pain. I remember running home after that and just crying for hours. I told him I was sorry two days later and he said he forgave me._

_Little did I know that a few short weeks later, Justin would con me into sleeping with him, getting me pregnant in the process, leaving me a single teen mom in the aftermath. And who was there for me through it all? Carter. He was right all along, and I have never felt so bad about something in my whole life._

I come back to reality when I hear my door slam. My prep team just left to go get my stylist. She walks in moments later. "Hey Gemma. I'm Violet." Her name suits her perfectly, she's purple. Purple hair, purple eyes, purple skin.

"Hi. So what am I being forced to wear tonight?"

She laughs and hauls a floor length sparkling gold dress out of a bag. It's beautiful, and I gasp.

She lifts it on over my head, gives me a pair of heels that I shove on, and directs me to a mirror. I gasp once again when I look at myself, I'm stunning. My waist long hair is curled, falling down my back; my eyes look dangerous, almost_ deadly, _from the makeup on my face. And the glitter all over me compliments the dress, making it _pop_!

"I'm a Jewel." I whisper, still in Aw.

"No, you're a gem." She winks at me and I smile.

She guilds me out of a door and down the hall where I meet Ky. He's also got glitter all over him, but he's wearing a black suit with a sparkling gold shirt underneath that matches my dress. He smiles at me when he sees me. "Looking good, Gem." He says with a smirk.

I laugh, "Your not too bad yourself."

We follow Violet into yet another room filled with chariots and horses. She brings us to the one in the front of the line. She tells us they start in 15 minutes, we both nod, and she walks away. We look around at the other tributes, and I find that a lot of them are staring at me. I just glare at them.

"Do you want to come with me to talk to district 2?" Ky asks me.

"Um. Yeah. Sure." I follow behind him. District 2 are facing us, and they greet us.

The guy is huge, just as big as Ky, or bigger. The Girl is an average size, the look in her eyes tells us she's prepared to kill. "Hey, I'm Marcus. This is Carla." The Guy tells us, pointing to the girl.

The girl waves at me, and I smile. "I'm Gemma, and this is Ky." Ky nods at them and I roll my eyes. He's trying to act cool.

Carla laughs at us, and looks me up and down. "So you're the one that has the kid? You don't look like it." _Why must that be the topic everyone brings up first?_

I sigh. "Yes, I have a daughter. Everyone asks me that; I'm rather tired of it now." Marcus smirks at me, and Carla just stares. I don't like them. They look dangerous.

I tell them I'm going to go, and walk off to find district 4's chariot. "Hey! Annabelle!" I say when I see her. She's talking to another girl, I recognise her. She's from district 8.

"Hey Gemma! You look stunning!" She hugs me. I hesitate then hug her back.

"Thanks! You do too!" She looks like the ocean, I swear. She's wearing a flowing dress that is all different color blues, with sea weed attached to it and in her hair, along with some sea shells.

"Oh how rude of me! This is Marigold, of eight!" I give Annabelle a look saying _Who's this?_ And I have a feeling that she's going to be one of our new allies. I don't mind, she looks strong enough.

"Hey Gemma! It's nice to meet you! Annabelle here told me that we three can be allies?"

I shoot Annabelle a look, because we never talked about this. But like I said, I don't mind. "Yeah, sure! That sounds great."

A bell goes off, signalling for us to go back to our chariots. So I say good bye and walk back to Ky. "So, 4 and 8, huh?" He asks me.

I climb into the chariot (which is a very difficult task with this long dress) without giving him an answer. He just smirks.

The horses pulling our chariot suddenly start to move, and we are pulled out into a huge crowd of screaming fans. _WE have fans? I have fans? Really?_

_"Gemma! Gemma!"_

_"You look Gorgeous Gemma!"_

_"You are going to win, Gemma!"_

_"Marry me, Gemma!"_

And it goes on and on and on. I smile and wave and blow kisses to the crowd. I look over and notice Ky doing all the same, and his fans are just as loud as mine, if not louder. I can't believe I have fans, especially since everyone seen me with Trixie at the reaping. _It's just because you're from district 1, Gemma._

I look straight into the Camera and blow a kiss. I'm hoping Carter will recognise that it was meant for him. Probably not though. Then we are parked right outside President Snow's mansion, to wait for the rest of the tributes. Annabelle and Marigold are perfect, the crowd loves them. _I picked two good people to be allies with; they'll get sponsors for sure._

We eventually leave the mansion, pulling back into our original place in the tribute tower. I take off towards my room, order up some food from an avox, and sit on my bed, looking at my picture while I eat. After that, I lie down, still clutching the picture, and drift into a peaceful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

_**WWFD** (what would finnick do)? hehe:) Hope you're enjoying the story so far! Sorry it's taking so long to get to the games, but don't worry, they're coming! Only one or two more chapters until the arena! _

_Review Please :)_

_I do not own the Hunger games, and I am not SuCo!_

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><p>The past 2 days of training have gone by very slowly. It would have been more entertaining for me if I could actually show off my skills with weapons instead of not having any idea of what I was doing. So instead of faking it, I spent most of my time at the survival stations – learning what plants are edible, tying knots, making shelters.<p>

This is our third and final day of training, and we show the game makers what we can do tonight. I talked to Esmeralda about it, and she said I should show them what I can really do, to throw off the other tributes. I agreed of course.

Me and Ky are being led down to the training room by Penelope right now. Ky of course joined the careers, so he's been having the time of his life trying to scare the other tributes and flaunting his skills. He's good, I admit, but I'm better.

We enter the training room, and it's only the rest of the careers here already – districts 1, 2 & 4. _Well at least Annabelle is here! _I try to walk away from Ky, when the rest of his career pack surrounds me.

"Well well well, look what we have here!" The guy from 4, who I never talked to before, says.

I try to brush past them, but Marcus pushes me into the wall. "No, I think we are going to have a little chat first."

I look around frantically for Annabelle, but I find she's all the way across the room shooting some arrows, not having any idea what's going on. "So, you're the Mama, hey? Will you be joining our pack this year, _Mother_?" He spits out 'mother' like it's poisonous. The boy from 4 lifts my chin so I meet his gaze. "We could use a pretty girl like you in our group."

I glare at him, and then turn my gaze over to Ky to silently plead with my eyes for him to get these people away from me. He's looking at the floor, obviously scared of the situation. "Um, no thank you." I say in the most girly voice I can manage.

The three of them find this absolutely hilarious; Ky still is staring at the floor silent. "Well that's not very smart, is it? We can offer you protection!" Carla says through her laughter.

"It's okay, I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern and I'll see you later." They finally let me out of their semi-circle and I walk over to the archery station with Annabelle. I pick up a bow, and string it. I pull back and let it go, intentionally messing it up, so it lands at my feet. This kills me, I'm normally great at it. "UGH!" I complain.

Annabelle laughs. "Hey, it's okay! Not everyone is great at the bow and arrow, its fine."

I sigh. "Thanks Annabelle. I think I'm going to give up on this and try out some other stations. Want to eat together at lunch?"

She smiles. "Yes! Definitely! Marigold will too!"

"Great! See you then!" Then I walk off to tie some knots.

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><p>It's finally lunch, and I've succeeded in every other tribute thinking I'm pathetic. I meet Annabelle and Marigold after we got our food, and we look around for a table. While we're looking, I see Esmeralda, Finnick, Jolie Jones (Marigolds mentor), one of district 11's mentors named Chaff, and Haymitch Abernathy sat at a table, talking. <em>Wait a second, Chaff and Haymitch? What?<em>

Esmeralda must notice me staring at them, because she says something to her table and all at once they all turn to look at me. I blush and direct my gaze at something else. I look back to them in a few minutes, and this time it's just Finnick staring at me. He winks, and looks away.

I sit down by Annabelle and Marigold. "You're blushing! Why are you blushing?" Marigold asks me, excited.

"Um… nothing!" I really don't want to tell them about my crush on Finnick.

"Who is it? Someone did something didn't they?" Marigold continues.

"It was Finnick! I saw you looking at him! You like him, don't you Gemma!"

I sigh. "You caught me. I've had a tiny crush on Finnick since he won, now shut up."

Annabelle starts to giggle, "Just wait till I tell Finnick!"

I gasp, "You wouldn't!"

Her and Marigold burst out into laughter and stand up from the table. "Just watch me!" They take off towards the table our mentors are sat at. _Oh my god._

"ANNABELLE NO!" I scream after her. I run after them, and since I'm faster, and I catch up to them.

I'm too late though. "Hey Finnick! We want to tell you something!" I hear Annabelle say. I reach her and clamp my hand over her mouth, burning red again.

"No she doesn't!" The rest of the mentors are staring at us like we are crazy. Haymitch is smirking at us. "Annabelle I swear if you tell them I'll cut out your organs one by one and feed them to Marigold!"

"Gemma Stone!" I hear Esmeralda scold. Haymitch, Chaff, and Marigold are all dying of laughter of this point. "Take your hand off of the girl's mouth and let her speak!"

"No! You don't underst-"

She cuts me off, "NOW!" Wow. I've never heard her angry before. I sigh in defeat and remove my hand.

"So, Annabelle, what did you want me to know?" Finnick asks her. I start to walk away but Marigold grabs me and forces me to stay there. I bury my face in my hands instead.

"Welllllll… Gemma here just told us that she has the BIGGEST crush on you, Finnick!" I hit her shoulder, hard. "Ow! Gemma!"

It should be illegal how badly my face is red right now. I hear Finnick chuckle, Haymitch and Chaff are still laughing, and Jolie & Esmeralda giggles. I peek through my fingers to find Finnick smiling at me. "Well, is that so?" It's really hard to believe he's only 16. He must look 21, at least.

"Um, we got to go. Come on Annabelle and Marigold!" I drag them away and hit Annabelle again, "I cannot believe you just told them! I'm so embarrassed!"

I hear the mentors still laughing, and I peek over my shoulder to find Finnick still staring at me. Then we leave to go back to our separate rooms until we have to show the game makers what we can do.

I don't know whether I should be happy or sad that I'm the first one called into show the game makers what I can do. It goes from Female to Male, district 1 – 12.

"Gemma Stone!" I hear one of them call for me. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself as I walk into the room. The room is huge and it looks just like the training room, only instead of stations theirs tables with everything you can imagine. There are even trees you can climb, a pool, a bunch of different plants and berries, and weapons.

I walk over to where the training dummies are kept. I take them one at a time to the center of the room. I grab an Axe, Mace and some knives. I slowly hack away at the dummies, taking the head off some, limbs off the others, beating them to mush with the mace, making a ton of tiny cuts in another.

Once I'm finished, I walk back over to the weapons and grab a tiny knife and some red berries. I slowly walk to the wall closest to the game makers, and carve "I WIN" into it. I crush the berries, making it look Identical to blood, and smear it all over the letters, to make it look like it's bleeding.

Once I'm done I step back and look at my work. I "killed" 23 dummies, and wrote I win in the wall that will stay there forever. After that, I glance at the game makers. Most of them got their jaws hanging open, and staring at the wall, probably wondering how they are going to cover it. Oh well.

I say in a sugary sweet voice, "That's what I plan to do in there to get back to my baby." Then I just stand there with my hands folded in front of me, blinking my eyelashes, as they go over and touch the wall and look at the dummies. After 10 minutes, one finally tells me I can leave, and I skip out the door.

I sit on a bench outside the room, to wait for Ky. He comes out 20 minutes later. "What did you do?" He asks me.

"Oh, Nothing special. I'd be glad if I got a 4!" He laughs. "What did you do?"

"Just chucked some stuff around, showed them my skills. Most of them weren't even looking at me! They were focusing on this horrible picture of president snow that was on the wall. Someone must have written something there from previous years because I saw a red stain in under it. Oh well!"

I have to bite my tongue to the point where I taste blood in my mouth to keep from laughing. _So that's what they did. Covered with a picture of Snow? Classy._


	7. Chapter 7

_Well, these are the interviews! I wanted to get this up tonight so I can post the first arena chapter tomorrow! :) Review! _

_I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>We are all gathered around the television waiting for the scores to appear. The capitol seal flashes on the screen, then a picture of each tribute and their score:<p>

_**D1 MALE: 11 **_

__(We all clap and congratulate Ky on his 11, while I mentally prepare myself for my low score)

_**D1 FEMALE: 10 **_

(Wait, what? A 10? I got a 10! "Way to go Gemma! I thought you said you'd get a 4?" Ky asks me, I just shrug. "What did you even do to get that?" Esmeralda asks. I ignore her.)

_**D2 MALE: 10**_

_**D2 FEMALE: 9**_

_**D3 MALE: 2**_

_**D3 FEMALE: 4**_

_**D4 MALE: 9**_

_**D4 FEMALE: 8**_

"Yay! Way to go Annabelle!" I shout out. The others just stare at me.

_**D5 MALE: 6**_

_**D5 FEMALE: 10 **_

"That's our other Career! Her name is Tricia, she's hot!" Ky informs us all, I roll my eyes and Mitchell gives him a high five.

_**D6 MALE: 9**_

_**D6 FEMALE: 5**_

_**D7 MALE: 6**_

_**D7 FEMALE: 7**_

_**D8 MALE: 2**_

_**D8 FEMALE: 6 **_

"At least Marigold got a 6." I say.

_**D9 MALE: 5**_

_**D9 FEMALE: 3**_

_**D10 MALE: 7**_

_**D10 FEMALE: 4**_

_**D11 MALE: 5**_

_**D11 FEMALE: 3 **_

"Oh, that's the poor 12 year old…" I sigh.

_**D12 MALE: 9**_

_**D12 FEMALE: 6**_

Mitchell starts to talk to us. "Well, tomorrow night is your interviews… and then the next day you go into the arena. Tomorrow during the day we will each help you prepare for your interview, you know like your angle, and Penelope will help you with your stage presentation," He mocks Penelope's accent, "because that is the most important thing here in the capitol!"

Penelope huffs and marches out of the room, the four of us laugh. "Alright then, the two of you. Off to bed. We have a big day tomorrow." Esmeralda commands. I don't know why some people don't like careers, I mean yeah some of them are bloodthirsty murderers in training, but Esmeralda is one of the nicest people I know. She's like a mother.

Me and Ky leave them, and we walk up to our rooms in silence until he speaks, "Um… I just want to say sorry about this morning. You know, my group kind of cornered you. They're never like that; I don't know what came over them."

I smile and fool around with my ruby necklace, "It's fine, really. Good night Ky." Then I enter my room and go to sleep.

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><p>Today was the biggest waste of time I ever experienced. Me and Esmeralda had 4 hours, it took us about 10 minutes to decide what my angle was going to be. I was just going to be myself; not that hard.<p>

Then I had my four hours with Penelope, and they were spent with her just pissing me off. She found something wrong in every little thing I did, I told her to screw off half way through, she said if I wanted to act like an animal to go ahead, I said I gladly will, and she left.

The prep team just finish up with me, and now I'm just waiting on Violet to come in and give me my dress. She enters the room, and opens the bag. What do you know? It's purple! But it's actually very lovely… It's purple, and the straps are made of see through light purple ribbon. It's tight up top, but then there's some more of the ribbon going across it, right under my chest, and it flows underneath that. On the Flowy part there are little Jewels all over it, and it's gorgeous.

She gives me a necklace that matches the Jewels on the bottom, and some white flats that are covered in the Jewels too. Once it's on me, I look in the mirror, and I look beautiful. My skin looks like it's glowing, and they have my hair straightened, with little braids going through it, along with some more Jewels.

I gasp at myself, and Violet tells me I'm perfect and that she'll see me afterwards. I walk out of the room, thinking Ky would be there, but he's nowhere to be seen. I just shrug and continue walking down the hall to meet the rest of the tributes.

That's where Ky is, chatting with his "group". I roll my eyes and stand alone to wait for it to begin. A bell goes off and we're ushered onto the stage into a group of chairs. Caesar Flickerman is in the front, watching us all. _I wish I wasn't from District 1. I don't want to go first._

"Welcome Panem! I'm Caesar Flickerman and tonight I'll be interviewing the tributes of the 67th Hunger Games! First up is Gemma Stone from District 1!"

I stand up and walk over to Caesar. The crowd is going crazy cheering for me, so I smile and wave at them. I sit down. "Hello Caesar!"

"Why Hello Gemma! You look lovely tonight! How do you like the Capitol? I hope it's been treating you well?"

"Oh yes! The capitol is amazing! The only way it would be better is if Trixie was here!" _Shit. I shouldn't of mentioned Trixie, now he's going to ask me questions about her._

"Oh yes! Your daughter, Trixie is it? How old is she now?"

"She was one on reaping day, Caesar." I say with a smile.

"Ah, I see! I'm sure everyone here in the Capitol was shocked to find out that such a tiny girl like you has a child." He turns to the audience, "Am I right?"

The audience screams and I laugh and mess with a piece of my hair.

He can tell I don't want to talk about her. "Okay, well! Let's move on! A 10 in training! Wow! How did you manage that?"

I giggle, "That's a secret!"

"Oh come on Gemma! Pleaaase?"

"Nope, you'll just have to wait to see during the games! I have a feeling this years is going to be very interesting!"

"Hm, is that so?"

"Why yes, it is!"

He laughs, "Well, if you insist we wait, tell us a little bit about yourself instead!"

"What do you want to know?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I'm sure we're all dying to know, do you have a special someone in your life? Trixie's father perhaps?"

I bite my lip, "Trixie's father isn't around anymore, he left me. But yes, if you must know, I do have a special someone in my life right now. He's very close to me so I won't tell you who."

The whole audience goes 'Awh!' "Well, Gemma, I'm sorry about Trixie's father, but I'm glad you have found someone knew! He must be a very lucky man to have you!"

I blush. "Thanks Caesar!"

The bell goes off signalling I'm done, I say good bye to the audience and Caesar and walk back to my seat. I pass Ky on the way, he winks at me and I role my eyes.

Ky was going for the 'tough' look. Only giving one word answers, bragging about how he's going to win, etc. The rest of the interview kind of goes by in a blur, most of them are boring. The twelve year old from 11 looked pretty shaken though, and I felt bad for her.

Finally it's over and we walk back stage where we meet everyone. "That's was great!" "You were wonderful!" "The crowd loved you!" I hear all at once. I just nod and smile, pretending like I care.

Esmeralda walks me up to my room afterwards, giving me a hug at the door. "This is the last time I'll get to see you… Good luck in there, I'll try my hardest to bring you back out."

I smile at her when I see she's tearing up. "Thank you, Esmeralda. You've been so kind to me and I've done nothing but cause trouble."

She gives me one of the saddest smiles I've ever seen. "Hey, it's fine. I treated you like I would treat my own daughter. You be careful alright? I don't want this to be the last time we talk."

"It won't be. Trust me." Then without another word she leaves me in the doorway, walking down the hall.

I turn around and walk in my room, taking off my beautiful dress and putting on some pajamas. I go to the washroom then clean off the makeup, and grab the photo sitting on the desk. _Shit! I forgot to give Esmeralda the letters! Oh well, it's not the end of the world. I'll just have to give them to Violet or something._

I lie down in bed, kiss the photo or Trixie & Carter, slide it under my pillow and close my eyes, waiting for sleep that doesn't come.


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey People! Sorry about not posting this yesterday, my internet was acting very strange! But anyways, from here on out it gets interesting :) Hope you like the chapter! Review! :D_

_I do not own the hunger games._

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><p>Around 5AM I get up and walk to the dining hall. I mean, I might as well because I'm not sleeping any time soon anyways. Once I get down there I see that it's empty. I order some Hot chocolate from an avox, and walk over to the ice cream bar, where I take up the same as I had a few days ago. Yes, I'm eating ice cream 5AM in the morning, but who cares? I'm going to die in a matter of days, so why not eat what I want to eat.<p>

I eventually finished my delicious yet sugary breakfast, and go back up to my room. A few hours later Penelope comes to get me to bring me to the Hovercraft that'll bring me to the arena.

We have to fly around for a while, almost an hour. No one says a word, no me; not Penelope (which, quite frankly, I'm surprised about); & not Ky.

The windows turn black, and I feel us dropping. "We're going in under the arena now, where you will meet with your stylists and prep team to prepare for the launch for the arena. We might as well say our good byes now."

I get up, and hug her. She is startled, and it takes a second for her to hug me back. "Thank you Penelope. I'll miss you." I whisper to her. I pull back and notice she has tears in her eyes, but I ignore it and she just nods. I step out of the way so Ky can say good bye, then we're ushered out the door.

My prep team greets me at the door, they're all puffy eyed and red. "Oh, guys, come on! Stop crying!" I tell them. Corbin takes my hand, and drags me to a room. They fix my hair in a pony tail so it's out of my face, and clean me up. Eliza had to leave half way through because she broke down with sobs.

They all leave after a while, with a tear filled goodbye, and Violet comes in. Her face is set as stone, and I can see she trying so hard to hide her emotions. She doesn't say anything to me, and I don't say anything to her.

She hauls out a simple outfit, Black sweat pants & a dark green t-shirt. She gives me special sneakers, made so they have amazing grip so you won't slip if you're running; along with a belt that has a few pouches for holding things. I finally break the silence, "No jacket?"

"No, I guess not. From what I know about your arena, you won't need one. There won't be any dramatic climate change or weather."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh! Well, okay then."

She looks me up and down, "How does everything feel?"

"Great, perfect."

An alarm goes off, and a peace keeper barges into the room telling me and Violet to come out. _This is it._

We stand right next to the plate that will lift me into the arena, and I give Violet a hug. "Stay Safe." Is what she tells me. I just nod, scared that I'll cry if I say anything. I step on the plate, and a tube comes down over me, very slowly I'm lifted into the arena.

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><p><em>It's all ash! <em>Is my first thought. Then I look around a bit. The cornucopia is on a big mound of ash. Circling this big mound of ash, of which we are around, are humongous walls. I can't see anything over them. We're obviously outside though, because the sky is pure blue – not a cloud in sight. I keep looking around, and notice there is 24 different doorways in the walls- _oh my god it's a maze! _It has to be a maze, it's the only solution!

I look around to the other tributes, and see Marigold. She's 4 tributes to the right of me. I can't see Annabelle, she must be on the other side of the cornucopia. I didn't even notice the count down, and suddenly I hear 5…4…3…2…1! And a gong sounds. I take off to the cornucopia; I'm one of the first ones there.

I grab two packs, and a sword. I suddenly feel excruciating pain in my right arm and I scream. I flip around to see the boy from seven charging at me. Before I know what I'm doing, I take my sword and slice it clear through him. He drops to the ground and I take my sword out of him. I'll never get that sound out of my head, the sound of me removing the sword. I shiver.

I look back to the cornucopia, slinging both packs over my shoulders, and grab a belt of knives. I quickly sling them around my waist. I run over to Marigold, who is in the middle of fighting off the girl from district 9 that is on top of her. I help her out by stabbing the girl in the back.

She jumps up beside me, and we run to the other side in search from Annabelle. Marigold throws a knife in the head of the boy from 11 that was trying to shoot an arrow at us. Blood squirts all over the both of us, and I have to wipe it from my eyes.

We finally reach her, and she's standing over an injured girl. "Leave her Annabelle! We have to go!" She growls but follows along with us.

I look over at the careers long enough to see Ky cut the head off of the district 3 girl. I feel bile forming I'm my throat, and soon enough I'm throwing up. I kneel down to finish puking, and once it's over the three of us run to one of the doorways; "This one?"

"Stop. Listen for a second." Annabelle tells us. All I can hear are screams from tributes being slaughtered at the cornucopia and birds- wait a second. Birds?

"Do you guys hear birds?" I ask them.

"Yes! There must be a forest or something down this way. Come on!"

I take one look back at the cornucopia, and all I see are dead bodies lying down in blood. There is no more ash. Just blood. I'm completely covered in it, and I feel sick. _I just killed 2 innocent people._

I have to stop and throw up again. Once I'm done I look at my arm. I didn't even notice the knife sticking out of it. "Guys! What do I do! Look!" I yell at the other girls.

"Leave it, when we get far enough away we'll take it out and wrap it up. Now come on!" Marigold tells me. We take off running.

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><p>BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! 8 canon fires. 8 innocent people dead. I killed two of them. Marigold killed one of them. I'm now an official murderer.<p>

I'm panting, "Okay. This is far enough. Let's stop." We all fall down to the floors.

"Here, I grabbed this pack." Annabelle tells me.

"Perfect, we all have one." We go through our packs. Mine contains A plastic container, A medium sized water canteen, matches, a small first aid kit, and a tiny knife. "No food?" I say with disappointment.

"None here either." Marigold and Annabelle both say together.

"Oh! Now your arm! Come here I'll take it out. It's going to hurt, a lot. You ready?"

I shove my other arm in my mouth so I don't scream, and nod. She rips it from my arm, and I try my hardest not to make a noise. Annabelle received some bandages in her pack, so they wrap it up in that. "There! All better." Marigold says.

We continue walking, and we finally reach a small forest. The walls are still surrounding it, so obviously it's a dead end. Annabelle speaks, "Great. Let stay here tonight. Let's look ar-"

She gets cut off by another canon fire. I gulp. "Um… well, like I said, let's look around."

We all go in different directions, I go to the left. All I can see is tree after tree, each with birds in them. I hear water. "Guys! I hear water! Come here!" They're at my side in an instant, they couldn't have been far. We continue walking forward and come across a very small lake. "Water!" I pretty much scream.

"Sh!" Marigold and Annabelle say in unison.

I reach down and throw my hand in it only to be surprised. This time I do scream, louder than ever. I take my hand out, and the skin is now red and bubbly. "What the shit!" I scream.

I'm in so much pain, worse than anything I've ever felt before. "DO SOMETHING GUYS! MY HAND IS FUCKING SKINLESS!"

They stumble then pull me back from the water's edge. "Um, Gemma?"

"WHAT!" I snap at them, squeezing my eyes shut and throwing my head back in pain.

"I'm pretty sure you just dunked your hand into either poison, or acid."

My open my now widened eyes and turn my attention back to my useless hand. _What the hell am I going to do now?_


	9. Chapter 9

_Short Chapter, Oh well :| Just an extra chapter cause I didn't post one yesterday :) Thanks!_

_I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>"Okay, don't panic!" Annabelle says.<p>

"HOW AM I NOT SUPPOSED TO PANIC! M-MY HAND!" I'm screeching at the top of my lungs. I thought labor was bad? HA!

"Okay first of all, stop screaming! The last thing we need is for some other tribute to come-"She spoke to soon. The 12 year old girl from district 11 comes bursting through the trees. She sees us and stops right on her tracts.

Marigold holds up her spear to the little girls neck. "Oh! Oh I'm sorry! Please, please don't hurt me! I'll leave!" The 12 year old girl stutters through her deep breaths.

"Hey, wait its okay." I manage to say through gritted teeth. I slowly lower Marigold's spear, we can't kill her.

"W-what happen to your hand?" She whispers to me.

"Acid." I scream out in pain.

She turns to Marigold and Annabelle, "What are you going to do?"

It is very clear the Marigold and Annabelle has no idea what to do at all. "Um… Let's wrap it up?"

"Okay, but it could get infected… and you're going to be in a lot of pain." She turns to me.

I bite my tongue to keep from screaming. I taste blood in my mouth, so I stop. So, instead of screaming, I say every curse word I know. I can just hear all the mentors laughing at me, so I look to the sky and say, "I swear to god if I find out any of you mentors are laughing right now, I'll kill you all!"

This causes the four of us girls to laugh or heads off. I'm surprised I can laugh through the pain, until I realise it doesn't hurt as bad now. "Guys! The pain has stopped a bit!"

I look at my hand, and it looks worse, but feels a bit better. I just shrug and tell Annabelle to wrap it up, so she does. "So, I'm going to assume you're our new ally?" I ask the little girl.

She just stares at me with wide eyes. "Okay then, what's your name? You're from 11 right?"

"I-I'm Juniper… yes I'm from 11."

I grab one of her hands with my good hand, "Well Juniper. Welcome to our little group here." She smiles.

"So, do everyone want to rest? I'll watch first." Annabelle says.

"Um, there was blanket in my pack, and I grabbed a tent at the cornucopia… " Juniper informs us.

"Wonderful!" Marigold shrills in a capitol accent; this sets us all off again. "Come on guys, it's getting dark."

By the time we have the tent set up, the sun is just setting. The Capitol Anthem booms over the arena, and the seal appears in the sky. D3 Male, D3 Female, D5 Male, D6 Male, D6 Female, D7 Male, D8 Male, D9 Female, and D11 Male. That's who died today. I killed two of them.

Me, Juniper & Marigold head into the tent. We curl up together under the small blanket, even though we don't have to. Like Violet said, it's not very cold. "How can you guys even look at me? I killed two people today." I whispered into the darkness.

Marigold sits up, "Hey. You did what you had to do to get out of there. You would be dead right now if you didn't kill those people! I killed someone, too. Don't forget about that."

"I keep on seeing their faces… I try my hardest to think about nice things, but it always winds up being them." I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block them out.

Marigold settles back in under the blanket, "You'll be fine. Just go to sleep."

So I do as I'm told, and I fall to sleep.

"_Why did you kill me, Gemma? Since you killed me, I'm going to kill something of great value to you." The first boy I killed taunts me in my dream._

"_No! Please! I'm sorry! I just, I need to go home!" He finds this hilarious, and suddenly he's holding Trixie in his arms. "TRIXIE!" I scream out._

"_Since you killed me, I'm going to kill her!" He says through his laughter. He drives a knife down through my little baby's body and I screech out some inhuman kind of sound. I run over to him, and he and Trixie disappears. _

"_NO! GIVE ME MY CHILD YOU MONSTER!" I scream._

Someone's shaking me, "Gemma! Gemma wake up! I think your having a nightmare!" I open my eyes to see three concerned faces.

"What the hell? What happen?" I look at them.

"You were having a dream about someone killing Trixie, I think. At least that's what you were screaming. Who's Trixie, Gemma?" Annabelle asks, I know she's just trying to help, but it makes me cry.

"M-my daughter. I had-d a dream, that one of-f the guys I murdered k-killed Trixie!" I say through my sobs.

"Hey, Trixie's safe. You'll be fine. It was only a dream. Do anyone else want to sleep? Or shall we leave this horrible forest?" Juniper questions us.

We all come out of the tent, pack everything up and start to walk away. After an hour or so of walking, we hear two cannons coming from very close to us. "Sh!" I tell everyone. We all creep forward, and when we turn the corner we see it. It two mauled bodies; I don't even know who they are, laying in a puddle of blood. I gasp, "Oh…"

They don't even have faces anymore, just bloody mush. Whatever attacked them got away easily, they were obviously no fight. Juniper starts to be sick, and I tell her to look away. I don't even want to know what kind of person or mutation did this to these poor kids.

I think it over in my mind, how many of us are left. Well, there were 24, then 9 died at the bloodbath, so that makes 15. Now these two are dead, so there's 13 left. It's day two, and there's 13 people left. That's got to be a new record.

"Come on, Gemma. Let's leave so they can get the bo- whatever's left."

So we turn around and leave those kids, just like that. The only problem is, is that after walking 15 or 20 minutes, we run into what turned those people into bloody pulp.

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><p><strong><em>Ou, What do you think Killed them ? :o<em>**


	10. Chapter 10

_Here's chapter 10! Hope you like it! Read & Review, please! :)_

_I do not own the hunger games! If I did Finnick, Rue, & Prim wouldn't of died!_

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><p>If I told you I was surprised when this thing didn't attack us that would be an understatement. I don't even know what it is. All I really know, is that it is towering over 5 careers right now, trying to decide which to attack, I guess.<p>

I was praying it wouldn't attack Ky. I don't know why I care, but I don't want him to die this gruesome death. He is the first one that sees us, and he looks me in the eye for a split second. _'Go, leave! Run!' _His eyes are telling me. Tears well up in my eyes, and I give him a tiny nod. He smiles at me, right as the thing chooses his victim.

I watch in horror for a few seconds as it rips the head off of the boy from 2, Marcus. His district partner screams, and they all turn to run. At the exact same time, I scream for the other 3 girls behind me to run, so they do.

Marigold isn't fast enough, though. We all take off, and since I'm the fastest I pass them without a second thought. I don't realise the thing is following us, until I hear her scream. I tell Annabelle and Juniper to go on and rush them forward as I stop to watch the scene.

The thing has decided to make her die slowly and painfully, for sure. It's standing over her, using it's razor sharp claws to slash away at her body. She isn't screaming, she isn't crying.

I look her in the eyes, and what I see is acceptance._ She's already accepted she's going to die. I have to help her. _As I'm staring at her, unable to do anything, tears start to stream down her cheeks. _'Please' _she mouths. I know what she wants. She wants me to end her life, so she doesn't have to go through this torture.

Now I'm the one crying, and I slowly creep up to the two of them. The thing is so obsessed with slicing her skin it doesn't even notice me. I bend down next to her, and wipe the hair from her face. "I am so, so sorry." I tell her.

She just smiles at me and nods, telling me to do it. I slowly raise my sword, and drive it down in her forehead, killing her instantly. I look down at the empty body below me as the canon goes off, and notice her eyes are open & she's smiling. I gently close her eyes, and get up. Then I realise what a dangerous and terrifying situation I am in right now.

I take off away from the thing and Marigold's body. I cry as I run, heart retching sobs. I turn around to see if anything is following me, and notice nothing is. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding, and continue to run and cry.

I finally reach Annabelle and Juniper. "W-What happen? Where's Marigold?"

"She's…. She… I killed her."

They both take a step away from me, eyes wide. Annabelle raises her arrow. "No! No guys! She was getting attacked by that thing, and she asked me to kill her so she didn't have to suffer…"

Juniper hugs me. I hug her back without hesitation, I needed that. "I knew what it was, well what part of it was." Juniper says.

"What? What was it Juniper?" I ask her.

"I saw one before, in my district. The peacekeepers called it a black bear. But that was definitely a mutated version, because that was way bigger with sharper teeth and claws."

I sigh. "There's nothing we can do about it now… We need to find food and water before we starve. We haven't eaten or drank anything in two days!"

So, I don't know if we're crazy or not but, we head in the direction of the black bear and the careers again. It's either that or go back to the forest, and we already know nothings there.

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><p>After an a few hours of walking and after its pitch black and we have to feel our way around the Maze, we finally come across a clearing with a small beach circling a lake. I'm about to run and completely dive in the lake, but then I realize what happen to my hand.<p>

We approach it carefully, and Annabelle decides she will test it this time. She slowly dips one finger in, then her hand. She takes it out and its fine, so she decides to taste it. "It's fresh water! It's good!"

I smile, "Finally!" Then I cup my hands and drink as much as I can, completely forgetting about my water canteen. After the three of us have drank enough, me and Juniper make a tiny fire while Annabelle sets up the tent.

"Okay, now we have our water, what about food?" I ask.

"Hm, well, let's look in the water for some fish to cook on the fire?" Annabelle says as more of a question than a statement. Me and Annabelle takes off our sneakers and dive into the water. It feels so great to get all the dried blood and dirt off of my body from the past two days.

We are about to dive down to get fish, when we hear Juniper scream from the shore. "Guys guys! Look! We got a gift!" By gift she means a silver parachute.

We walk out of the water and sit in the sand next to Juniper and the fire. "Here, Gemma. You open it."

I take the package from Juniper with a weak smile. I slowly open it, and out falls a meal for four, composed of Steaks, Mashed Potatoes, Bread, Vegetables & Hot chocolate. I laugh, "What's with the hot chocolate?" I ask them.

They just giggle, "Looks like we don't need to get fish now!"

I stare at the water, "Maybe it was a sign."

They look at me like I'm absolutely nuts. "Gemma… What are you talking about? A sign?" They both ask me.

"Well, what is the coincidence that as soon as we dive into the water in search for food they send a parachute of food? Maybe they are trying to tell us something. They had plenty of time the past two days to send us food, and they never until we could find it ourselves." I explain to them.

They take a second to think about it. "Oh my god! You're so right!" Annabelle exclaims as we start to eat, it's still hot and delicious.

We eventually finish the meal, and I tell both of them to go into the tent, and that I'd keep watch outside. They say no, that I should rest. "No… I need time… by myself. You know?" I tell them, not looking them in the eyes. They just nod and climb in the tent.

I sit outside by the fire alone, just thinking, staring at the ocean. _Maybe they won't care if these games go by fast. That way I can get home to Trixie and Carter faster. Oh I miss them so much. I wonder how much Marigold missed her family. They had to watch me kill her. Her family will hate me. But she's in a better place now. I put her out of her suffering. I did the right thing, didn't I? What if that was Trixie. I would want someone to put her out of her misery, wouldn't I? Of course I would. No one should suffer that-_

A sudden movement in the water breaks me away from my thoughts. Something's swimming out there. I see a fin pop up out of the water. _What the?_ I just watch in amazement, as it slowly lifts itself from the water. _It's a shark!_ My mother told me a story about one a really long time ago, about how her friend in district 4 got attacked by one.

That's when I realize I was right. The food was a sign. The two of us could have been dead right now if we stayed out in that water. We could have easily been attacked by that shark.


	11. Chapter 11

_*giggles* I thought the ending of this chapter was cute_ c; _what do you think?_ _Leave comments in the reviews! :):)_

_Hope you like it! I'm already thinking about doing a sequel, should I?_

_I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>In a few hours, I wake up the two other girls. Juniper climbs out of the tent, "Why didn't you wake us Gemma? You need sleep, you must be tired."<p>

I'm actually not tired, surprisingly enough. I actually feel like I have a lot of energy. "No I'm not tired at all actually."

She just shrugs and takes a sip of water. "So, what is the plan for today? Should we just hang out around here, go swimming a bit?" _Oh shit, the shark! I forgot._

"Um… actually Annabelle we can't go in the water anymore. When I was on watch last night, I saw a shark in the water."

"Oh! Wow. Well we can hang out here today then. The game makers won't be bored yet, two people just died last night. We should be safe for now."

"You're right. I think I'm going to sleep now, there's really nothing else to do. Wake me if anything happens." Then I go curl up in the tent.

What feels like 5 minutes later I'm being shaken awake. "Hey, Gemma, wake up. We want you to see something." I hear Junipers voice and I open my eyes.

"How long have I been out?"

"Um, I'm not sure. A long time. 6 or 7 hours." My jaw drops. "Now come on, I want you to see something."

So I follow her out of the tent, and guess what I see? Mr Ky Green lying in the sand!

"How'd he get here?" I say nodding my head at him.

She's grinning so wide, I can't help but smile. "He left the careers when they were sleeping to come find us. He said he had to tell us something but he wanted to wait till you were up." I look over at Ky lying on the beach asleep.

I walk over to him and kick his arm. He jumps, and opens his eyes weakly. I laugh at his sleepiness. "Rise and shine, Ky!" I tell him happily. What he does next surprises me.

He jumps up incredible fast and hugs me, "Gemma I'm so happy your safe."

I hesitate but hug him back, "You too, Ky. I didn't want you to die by that big bear thing."

He pulls away and smiles at me, I smile back at him. I get this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, I don't like it. I quickly look away. "What happen to your hand?" He asks me. I completely forgot about it. I looked down at the bandage, the bandages are soaked from the water yesterday.

"Acid." I tell him. I plop down into the sand and slowly peel away the bandages. I hoped it would be a bit better by now, but it's worse.

I look at it and start to gag. It's really red and swollen, and it's bubbling worse than it was. But now there's pus and blood coming from it. "Oh, Gemma…" Ky sits next to me and takes my hand to get a closer look. "It looks infected! Does it hurt?"

"Not really… It's kind of numb now, I lost feeling to it."

He rubs his forehead, "Gemma that's not good!" I shrug.

"Nothing we can do Ky." I get up and walk to the water to rinse it off. Then I wrap it up again.

I walk back over to Ky, who is now sitting by the other girls, and kick him. "Why are you here anyways?"

His face falls. "You don't want me here?"

"No! Go away!" I say this jokingly but he looks like he's going to cry.

"Oh-okay…" He slowly starts to get up but I push him back down.

"Ky! You're stupid! I was joking!" This gets him to smile again. "But seriously, what happen?"

"Well, I came here to warn you guys, and to hopefully join your alliance."

"Sure you can join," I say it without hesitation. Since when do I like Ky so much? "But warn us about what?"

"The Careers. They've been plotting to kill you guys since the bear attack. I couldn't let them get you guys. I had to come help you…"

I bend next to him, "Why though Ky?" He won't look at me. Something's up. "Why would you want to save me?" He just swallows, and is staring at the ocean. "Ky. Please."

"I care about you in a way that I don't think I should during the hunger games, Ok Gemma! But I can't help it." He looks at the sand, embarrassed.

_Oh. No. _I stand up and stumble backwards a bit. Obviously Juniper and Annabelle get it too because they're staring at me with their mouths gaping open. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

Ky gets up and walks along the water's edge. Annabelle and Juniper trail behind him. I'm still too stunned to speak. I don't know what to do. That's why I'm so stunned when I feel someone tap me on the shoulder.

I flip on my heels to see the career pack of now 3 standing next to me, weapons raised.

"What's wrong Gemma?" Carla purrs at me.

I don't even say anything, I just turn and run in the direction they were walking, "KY! ANNABELLE! JUNIPER!" I screech.

I hear Annabelle first, "Gemma? What's wrong?" I finally reach them, but I'm panting too hard to speak.

"The…Ca…reer…s" I breath.

"Shit. They're here, aren't they?" Ky asks. I nod furiously. "Well, looks like there's nothing we can do but fight now, hey?"

These games are going by way to fast. It's day 3 and there are 11 of us left. Annabelle and Juniper agree, raise their weapons and start to walk in the direction I came from. Ky grabs my good wrist, "Come on. We out number them. I won't let you die, I promise." I smile and nod.

We only had to walk a few minutes until we reach them. "Oh, had to go get your little buddies, Gemma?" Carla asks with a smirk.

"Shut up." I growl.

The girl, the one who Ky said was hot, Tricia, motions her head to Ky holding my wrist. "What's going on here, Ky?"

He drops my wrist and rolls his eyes. "Nothing Tricia. I had to help her along, get a grip."

They are all laughing, so Annabelle's arrow catches them off guard. She hits the girl Tricia in the stomach. Carla rushes to Tricia's aid, who is now on the ground. "YOU STUPID BITCH! HELL, THAT HURTS!"

This time Annabelle laughs, but not for long, because she realizes her district partner is charging at her with a trident. She screams, and I try my best to block it with my sword, but I'm not fast enough. It hits Annabelle in the shoulder, and now she can't use her arrow.

"Mike." She says through gritted teeth, "You just made a big mistake. You don't attack your district partner, it's like the one unwritten rule of the hunger games, you idiot!"

This distracts him enough for Ky to attack him from behind, stabbing him repeatedly with his knife. His canon goes off, and the other career girls are up and running and none of us has the energy to go after them.

Annabelle fell to the sand, and Juniper ripped out the arrow. "I can't feel my arm! Gemma! I can't!" She screams.

"You'll be fine, sh… You'll be fine." I try to soothe her as Juniper tries her best to stop the blood. She finally gets it wrapped up.

Ky looks to the sky, "It would help if she had some pain killers you know?" Then, like magic, the little parachute flies down. Ky opens it and it contains one little pill. "Take this Annabelle." He hands it to her.

She sighs of relief almost instantly, falling asleep shortly after. I start to raid the lifeless body of the district 4 boy as it gets dark. "Nothing useful here." I sigh. "Ky, make a fire will you? Juniper come with me to get the tent."

We walk to the tent, grab it, and bring it back in record time. We slowly lift Annabelle into it and cover her with the blanket. "You go sleep, Juniper. Me and Ky will watch tonight." She agrees and climbs in.

I move over and sit next to the fire with Ky. "Hey…" he says.

"Hi." I stay stiffly.

"I meant what I said you know… " And he drops the bomb.

"Ky…" I sigh.

"I know about him, Gemma. It's fine. I just thought I should let you know how I feel before I die."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm going to try to get you home. You have a daughter you need to take care of, Gemma. I don't really have anything important to go home to. My family is all dead, and my friends will get over it."

I lean my head on his shoulder awkwardly, "Ky. I'm so sorry."

"I just wish we didn't have to meet here. We could have been great friends back home."

I pull away and stare him in the eyes, "Ky. You're the first friend I've had besides from… you know… in more than a year. Don't say we could have been. We are. And we always will be."

He smiles and inches closer to me. I don't move away. Then he does something that surprises me so much I thought I passed out right there and then. He_ kissed_ me. But what's even more surprising, is that I never pulled away. _Why didn't I pull away?_

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><p><em><strong>*Gasp* But what about Carter? You'll just have to wait and find out! hehehehe :)<strong>  
><em>


	12. Chapter 12

_Hey Guys! Happy Valentine's day! Hope you've all had a great day! _

_I just added a poll to my profile, about what story I should do next, so go check it out! :)_

_I hope you like the chapter, I thought it was different!_

_Please Review, they make me happy :)  
><em>

_I do not own the hunger games!_

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><p>No. I can't do this. I cannot be kissing Ky right now. If Carter is watching this, he is probably devastated. Actually, I <em>know<em> he is devastated because I would be devastated if this was him. But I don't want to stop kissing Ky. That's the problem.

I love Ky. I've figured that out just by this kiss. But I am not _in_ love with him. I am in love with Carter. That I know for sure because I felt the spark when we kissed before I had to leave. There is no spark right here right now with Ky. Nothing.

He gently pulls away, and I flutter my eyes open. Tears are stinging them, and I know some are going to come out, so I jump up from sitting, walk a few feet away and crouch down on my knees in the sand, head in hands and I just cry. I let everything out. I don't care if I lose sponsors, I don't care who is watching. I need to let it out.

I don't know how long I'm knelt down there, curled into myself just sobbing. I'm at the point where I have no more tears left to come out and I just fall and curl into a ball in the sand when Ky comes over. "Gemma, I'm sorry."

'_How could you kiss him Gemma? I love you!' _A voice says to me in my head. It sounds just like Carter. I completely ignore Ky and start to talk to imaginary Carter.

"Carter?" I say out loud.

"No, Gemma. I'm Ky." I'm talking to the voice in my head Ky, not you. And stop talking to me like a 5 year old, I'm not stupid.

"Carter I'm sorry" I whisper to the voice, hoping to get it to come back.

'_I know you are. But it still hurts, Gem.' I _sneak a glance at Ky and he's staring at me like I'm a nut case_. Maybe I am a nutcase. Maybe I just cracked._

"I know, Carter, and I'm sorry. But I love Ky, too. I'm in love with you, but I love him too." I say still trying to talk to the voice. Ky comes over and kneels by me, brushing the hair out of my face.

"Gemma, what's happening? Who are you talking to?"

I now know that I actually must have cracked, because when he asks me who I'm talking to, I burst into laughter. I can't control it. I'm just laughing and laughing, rolling around in the sand. "Carter come back to me. Talk to me." I say with a giggle.

"No, Gemma. Look at me. I'm Ky." He takes my face in his hands and forces me to look at him. I feel my eyes glaze over. "What's wrong with you?" He whispers.

'_Answer him.' _Carter commands from my head. So I do.

"Don't you get it Ky?" I say before laughing again. Once I finally calm down again I screech, "I've cracked. Gone crazy. I can't handle this anymore, it's too much!"

"What's too much?"

"Everything!" Annabelle and Juniper are woken up from my laughing and screaming and have rushed to my side. "It's getting to me Ky, the arena! There's nothing I can do. Nothing I can do until I go home or die!" I scream again.

"What happen to her?" Annabelle asks Ky.

"Well, we were being very serious and talking, then we kissed, then she started crying. I came over to see what was wrong, then she started talking to a voice in her head-"

I cut him off. "It's Carter! It's not a voice! It's Carter! My Carter!"

He sighs, "Well, okay then. She started talking to Carter, and then she had a hysterical laughing fit, then she told me she is gone crazy."

Hearing it all told out makes me sound even crazier, so I burst into laughs again. Juniper picks me up by my arm, "Come on Gemma. I want you to talk to me."

I try to get out of her grasp but it's useless. _'It's fine Gem, go ahead with her.' _Invisible Carter tells me.

She drags me into the tent, and I curl up into a ball, rocking back and forth.

"Gemma? Hey. I want you to talk to me, tell me what happen."

"Umh… He kissed me." I mumble out.

"Ky kissed you, I know. Did that make you upset?" She looks concerned; I know I can trust her.

I stare straight into her eyes, completely serious. "I don't know Juniper. I'm in love with Carter but I love Ky too. I don't understand and this is all too much for me. I need to go home and be with my baby." I continue rocking. Esmeralda must hate me right now.

She puts on a very soothing tone like she's trying to talk a child out of having a tantrum, "I'm sorry Gemma but that can't happen just yet. We have to finish the games first."

I push my head into my knees, still rocking. "I'm crazy, aren't I?" I whisper.

"Nah. Not crazy, just confused." She replies. I know she's lying to make me feel better, but I'm sick of everyone lying to me.

"Please Juniper! Don't lie!" I scream into my knees.

She sighs, "I'm not lying to you. You have just cracked temporarily under all of the pressure. You had to kill three people, and watch a dozen die all the while people are waiting for you back home. Something's bound to happen to all of us yet."

She makes sense to me now. I have this mental breakdown because it's all too much. I felt so bad and guilty about those people I killed, and then about kissing Ky that I started hearing things.

"I need a break from this reality. Would you guys mind if I sleep?"

She smiles. She looks so much older than 12, "Go right ahead. Sweet Dreams, Gemma."

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><p>I awake to the sound of Canons. <em>Bang! Bang! <em>Wait, two? I rush out of the tent.

"Who died?" I ask the three people sitting on the shore line.

"Tricia & another tribute." Ky responds, monotone.

"What? How do you know?"

"Well, I know it was Tricia because I just watched her gorgeous body get ripped apart by a shark. And we don't know the other one." He sounds so frustrated. I feel bad.

"Um… Ky? Can we uh… Talk?" I ask him.

"Sure, Gem." He gets up and we walk along the shore line, very far away from the others.

"Look. I'm really sorry. I don't know what happen to me last night. I cracked."

He smiles, "Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have kissed you. I knew about Carter, and it was a stupid thing to do. I'm sorry."

I act on impulse and hug him. "I love you Ky. As a friend."

He laughs and hugs me back, "Love you too."

Our special moment is cut short by a scream. A scream that sounds like a 12 year old girls scream. _Juniper. _I look up at Ky, and he has a face of pure horror._ Oh no._

At the same time we race back to the other girls, only to be shocked by what we see. Carla, the last career, is standing over a now dead Annabelle, she has a knife through her heart, and her shoulder wound has opened again. Blood is everywhere.

Carla is laughing sadistically, staring at Juniper. Juniper looks frozen in place, pure white and shaking. Me and Ky react at the same time, by running towards her. I grab her out of the way before Carla's spear can make contact with her, and Ky stabs Carla with a knife.

Ky backs up towards both of us, and Carla doesn't move from Annabelle. She suddenly smiles and starts coughing – coughing up blood. She falls face first onto Annabelle and two canons go off. They're both dead.

I then realize that we have made it to the final 8 before both of them were killed, so they would have to interview our friends and families. They would definitely interview Carter. I don't know who else. I hope not my mother.

Ky grabs my shoulders and shakes hard, "Gemma. You cannot have another breakdown, I need you right now."

I stare at the two dead bodies, feeling my eye twitch and nod silently. I can tell he's holding back tears, he liked Annabelle. "Juniper, pack up the tent. We're leaving. We need to find food." His voice breaks halfway through and he storms off.

I fall to my knees and gently crawl up next to the two bodies. I know all eyes of Panem are on me right now. I push Carla off of her and stare at her dirty body being soaked in blood.

Tears fall as I try my hardest not to have another break down. I need to be strong. I need to win this.

I lean down and kiss her forehead, whispering to her. "Rest Easy, Annabelle. I'll miss you." I pull away from her face and stare down at her necklace, it was her token. I gently remove it from her body, shove it into my pocket and look to the sky. "Fuck you President Snow! Why do you want to watch all these children die? What did this poor girl ever do to you?" I scream at the top of my lungs, and motion to Annabelle's lifeless body, "And now she's dead! She's fucking dead and she's never coming back, and it's all your fucking fault!"

Yes. I can official say it: I have cracked.

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><p><em>Awe, poor Annabelle :( Down to the final 6! I'll update 2 times tomorrow, as a late-valentines day gift to you all! :) Review, and check out my poll :)<em>

_And now a bread pun in honor of Peeta Mellark: I loaf you all _ _hehe_


	13. Chapter 13

_Almost 500 hits, thank you all so much! :) I'm sad to say but there are only 2 - 3 chapters left for this story! But one the plus side, then I'll get to start on the sequel :):) Thanks to everyone for reading! I'd love some more reviews? Please? c:_

_I will update the next chapter later today, where you find out the victor! hehehe_

_I do not own the **amazing** Hunger Games, or this **amazing** song by Taylor Swift (safe and sound) ! If you haven't heard it already, go listen to it. It's **amazing.**_

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><p>I join Ky and Juniper after. Juniper has everything packed up, and we have started to walk around to the maze. It just got dark, I must have slept all day.<p>

I suddenly feel someone grab my hand as we walk, and I look down. "G-Gemma?"

I smile in the darkness, "Yeah Juniper?"

"Can you sing for us?"

"You… want me… to sing?" I say. I've never sand in front of anyone before, besides from Trixie. Not even Carter. I look at Ky to see his reaction, but he just continues walking in the front of us, I hear him sniffle. "Won't that let the other tributes we are coming close though?"

"Who cares about the other tributes? If we get attacked we get attacked. There's no real way to prevent it! Can you _pleeeease_ sing Gemma?"

I sigh. "Fine. I'll sing you my favorite one I know from before the dark days."

"Yay!" She chirps. I see Ky straighten, obviously listening now.

"_I remember tears streaming down your face  
>When I said, I'll never let you go<br>When all those shadows almost killed your light  
>I remember you said, Don't leave me here alone<br>But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight_

_Just close your eyes  
>The sun is going down<br>You'll be alright  
>No one can hurt you now<br>Come morning light  
>You and I'll be safe and sound<em>

_Don't you dare look out your window darling  
>Everything's on fire<br>The war outside our door keeps raging on  
>Hold onto this lullaby<br>Even when the music's gone_

_Just close your eyes  
>The sun is going down<br>You'll be alright  
>No one can hurt you now<br>Come morning light  
>You and I'll be safe and sound<em>

_Just close your eyes  
>You'll be alright<br>Come morning light,  
>You and I'll be safe and sound..." <em>

I finish. I just then notice that they are both stopped with their jaws dropped to me. My cheeks burn red, not that they'd be able to see.

"Wow…" Juniper breaths.

"Was I really that bad?" I ask, tears starting to come to my eyes. I just sang in front of all of Panem, and I was horrible.

"N-No, Gemma. That was amazing! I have no words!"

I turn to Ky, who still isn't facing us but has stopped. "Ky?" I ask worriedly.

He slowly turns around, and I can very barely see the tears streaming down his face. He walks over to me, "That was beautiful Gemma. I don't know what else to say. You have the best voice I've ever heard."

'_He's right you know. Your voice is incredible.' _I hear imaginary Carter say in my mind. I ignore him and hug Ky. "Thank you." I whisper as I pull away from him.

I take Junipers hand again, and we keep walking in silence.

I don't know how long we are walking, but a little parachute falls down in front of me. "Hey guys! A parachute!" I shout, breaking our silence. I pick it up.

"Well open it!" Juniper says.

I open it. It is 3 pairs of glasses and a thermos. I don't open the thermos yet though. "What are these things?" I say, inspecting the glasses.

"Oh my gosh! Night vision glasses! This must have cost the sponsors a lot!" He takes a pair and puts them on. "I can see perfectly!"

I hand Juniper a pair, and put a pair on myself. I open up the thermos. It's Chocolate ice cream with caramel. I'm suddenly on the dirty ground, sobbing.

"Woah woah woah! Gem what's wrong?" Ky asks, rushing to my side obviously concerned. I make a point to show him I want him to hold me as Juniper stands there awkwardly.

Ky pulls me onto his lap and wraps his arms around me, I lean into his shoulder. He whispers into my ear, "Gemma. Don't leave me again. Please. What happen?" _Oh right. _After my episode last night he must be worried I'll break down again. I'm worried about that too.

"That's how we met." I mumble.

"Who met?"

"Me, me and Annabe-" I can finish her name, I choke.

"Sh. It's okay. Let's just leave it here, ok? Pretend it never came." I nod, and we just sit there for a few minutes; him soothing me and calming me down. Once I'm okay, he stands up then pulls me up. "Piggy back?" He asks me.

I giggle, "You've got to be kidding me! How old are we, 5?"

"No!" He says in a _Duhh! _Kind of voice. "We're 6! Now hop on!"

I laugh but follow the order, jumping up onto his back. He starts walking and I grab Junipers hand from my spot on his back.

You may find it hard to believe, but I actually fall asleep there. It was probably the steady beat of his steps. I wake when I feel someone putting me down.

"Where are we?" I grumble. I peek at the sky, it's blue and sunny again, early morning.

"We found this little clearing, so we decided we would rest here today and continue walking in the night. Sound good?" Juniper replies.

"Sure, sure." I say as I sit up. The clearing is filled with all kinds of different color flowers and plants, most of them obviously poisonous.

They both insist on staying up with me, so I don't argue.

It's getting dark now, no one died today. We are going to stay for another few hours then head out again.

_Or maybe not. _It's starting to rain. Like torrential downpour. But surprisingly it's warm rain, I kind of like it. I get up and start twirling around in it, becoming completely soaked, while Ky and Juniper laugh at me.

"Come on Gemma," Ky says through his giggles, "Let's get into the tent, the three of us!"

So we all go into the tent, curl up in under the blanket, and put on the night vision glasses so we can see each other.

We are all just talking, about random stuff. Our friends back home, what we used to do, Trixie, School, normal stuff. "SH! Listen!" I say.

They both shut up immediately and I strain my ears to listen, _what is that? _Then I realize through the heavy rain that they were footsteps, and those footsteps were headed toward us. "Hear it?" I say to both of them.

Ky states the obvious, "Footsteps?"

I quickly grab my sword I have near me, Juniper has a knife, and Ky has a spear on him. I slowely creep over to the door of the tent and open the door. When I open the door I see both tributes from district 12 staring at me, weapons raised. "If you are going to kill us, at least give us a fair chance to fight you off!" I scream at them.

The three of us raise our weapons. District 12 glares at us. Suddenly Ky charges at the boy. They begin fighting, but I don't have time to worry about it. Me and Juniper got to fight this girl. We circle her, she only has one tiny dagger. I swipe at her with my sword, but she dodges.

I try swinging at her again, but I realize I have met my match. We start going back and forth fighting. Juniper tries to cut in but I push her away, I don't want her to get hurt.

District 12 is suddenly on top of me, pushing me down into the dirt. She's smirking, and tracing her dagger along my body. "Any last words district 1?"

I spit in her face, and she loses it. She starts cutting all along my arms and chest, and I realize she is planning on making me have a slow and painful death. I watch her as she draws a smiley face on my stomach, deep, and it hurts like hell.

I grit my teeth and pray for the end, this is just to painful. All these cuts. I look over at Juniper, and she's staring at me helplessly. District 12 raises her dagger, she's finally deciding to kill me. At least now I won't have to be in so much pain.

My last thought is of Trixie, and how she will grow up without a mom. I whisper "I'm sorry" and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the end. I hear a canon go, and a scream from Ky. I hear the dagger enter skin, but I keep my eyes shut. Then there's another canon.

I'm dead.


	14. Chapter 14

_Hope you like the chapter! The next chapter will be the post-games interview and she'll get to go home! Then I'm hoping to start the sequel within the next day or two, so check my profile for updates! :)_

_Enjoy & Review Please! _

_I do not own the hunger games, only Gemma, Ky, Trixie, Carter, Juniper, Marigold, Annabelle, Esmeralda, Violet, Mitchell, and the rest of the gang! :)_

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><p>I open my eyes slowly, one after the other. I realize I'm not dead, because I'm in too much pain. When I open my eyes, what I see is Ky kneeling on top of the district 12 girl, plunging a spear into her face, over and over again. He's screaming and sobbing, and I don't know what's happening.<p>

I hear another canon go off. Wait a second. I just heard two go off… and now this one. And Ky's not dead. So that must mean… NO! No no no no no! Please dear god no!

I look to my right, and I see a little 12 year olds lifeless body beside me with a dagger in her chest. No. No Juniper No.

"No!" I scream as loud as I can. I don't care about the pain anymore; I crawl over to her, blood going everywhere. "No Juniper No! No!" I don't know what else to say. She died for me. Jumped in front of me to take that dagger for me. No. I'm howling, sobbing. I shake her face, as if I can wake her up. "Juniper, hey, beautiful girl wake up."

Now not only am I responsible for those original two deaths, now I have two of my ally's deaths on my hands. I can't do this. I can't I can't I can't.

"Wake up!" I scream in her face. I let the tears drip down onto her. I whisper now, "Juniper, please. You have to wake up. Please." I feel someone nudge my shoulder.

"Come on, Gemma. There's nothing we can do. She's gone."

"NO!" I screech. "I killed her! I killed that little girl! No!" I pace back and forth. I shut my eyes, and scream as loud as I can until I start to cough up blood.

"Gemma. Stop. You didn't kill her. I need to help you, lie down." I can't lie down. I can't do anything. I should be dead. This little girl is dead, because of me.

He forces me down, pushing me into the grass. He takes off my shirt, leaving me in just my white bra. I don't object though. I don't do anything. I don't move. He starts to bandage up my cuts, one by one. "We're ending this. Now. We are going to go find that last tribute and end this."

I watch him bandage the smiley face on my stomach. "Ky." I say.

He stops and looks at me. I'm glad he's not distracted by me being shirtless. "Yeah?"

"There's two of us." I whisper.

"I know." Is all he says. _I know? What does that mean?_

He finally gets me all bandaged up, and helps me back into my shirt. I feel so stiff and sore. He re-bandages my arm and hand that I got on the first day. My hand is even worse now, but I don't care. I deserve to feel pain. I'm a horrible person. I killed four people.

He doesn't even bother to take our tent or blanket, or our packs. We just take the glasses, my sword, a knife and his spear.

We search for a long time, him carrying me a lot of the way because I'm in too much pain. I block out Juniper and Marigold and Annabelle. I block out that we are in the arena. I block out that after we kill this tribute, one of us are going to die. I want it to be me. I deserve it. Carter can take care of Trixie, they'll both be fine and get over it.

We finally come across her. The final tribute; the district 7 female. "Well well well, what do we have here?" She smirks at Ky carrying me. He gently lays me down and hauls out his spear.

"We are going to finish this. Now." And so they do. They fight and fight, her with her axe and him with his spear. I keep my eyes close the whole time. I don't want to watch. I finally open them, after I hear the canon.

I see the girl, lying in a puddle of blood on the ground, dead. Then I see Ky, oh god Ky. He has one arm gone and a huge gash on his stomach. He stumbles toward me, and then falls. "Ky!" I rush toward him, take his head and place it in my lap.

"Gemma…" He breaths. I brush my hair from his sweat soaked face, so I can look in his yes. "Congrats." He's actually smiling when he says it. Him, on the verge of dying from blood loss, is smiling.

"Come on Ky, I need to bandage you up." I start to move.

"No. Gemma. This is it."

I realize what he means. He wants me to end his life like I did to Marigold, so he don't have to suffer. He's dying and he knows it, and the worst part is he did it to protect me. I shake my head frantically, "No, Ky. No no no no."

"Yes, Gemma. Listen to me. I love you. You need to go home and raise your daughter. Don't…" I'm hysterical, telling him to stay with me, sobbing and making weird animal noises the whole time.

He tells me to shut up with a smile and I nod. "Don't forget me, okay? But don't dwell on my death. Go home with Carter and be happy. Maybe I'll talk to you in your head sometimes." Then his breath hitches, and his lungs collapse. He starts choking for breath right there on my lap.

I don't know what else to do, so on his last breath I bend down and kiss him. A long and passionate kiss. I finally pull away, and I look at him. He looks so peaceful now, his eyes closed and not breathing.

His canon goes off. "NO!" I scream to the sky. I clutch his head in my arms and rock back and forth, talking to myself. "It'll be okay Gemma, you're going home now. You'll be fine. You'll be fine." But I'll never be fine. Not after that. Never.

As It is announced that I won over the arena, I bed down and kiss him again. "I love you Ky." I whisper as I pull back.

A hovercraft appears and it drops a ladder down to me. I'm not going on there, not without Ky. I wrap my arms around Ky's body, and rock back and forth some more. "I'm not leaving without you. We're getting out of here together." I say to him.

Peacekeepers come and surround me sitting there to take me. "Get away! Leave us alone!" I scream at them. I latch onto Ky's body, refusing to let go, so they take both of us.

I'm hugging onto his dead body so tight; I feel the blood disappearing from my arms.

"Gemma, can we take Ky please?" A nice female doctor asks me.

I can't speak at first, my throat is bleeding and sore, and I'm sobbing. "No." I manage.

"Please, Gemma. You need to have surgery to be fixed up, you're very injured and very sick. So does Ky."

"No he doesn't! You guys aren't going to fix him up! You are going to take him away from me forever!"

"No Gemma… You'll always be with him. In your heart." This just makes me break down more, sobbing and rocking back and forth really fast while talking to myself.

"Okay." I managed to talk myself into giving over his body, "But please. Please don't fix my stomach or my hand. Please."

She nods silently, and peacekeepers take the body from my arms. I watch him get carried away, as I feel a prick in my neck.

The world goes black, and I hope I'm dead.


	15. Chapter 15

**Here it is! The last chapter of this book! I am going to start a sequel shortly (whether it be tonight or tomorrow), so I'll update one final chapter with the link to it on this story. Thanks to everyone who read this and stuck it through with me, I really appreciate it! :)**

**As a little **_final chapter_** gift to me, would you review and tell me what you thought of this book? :)**

**Thank you all so much, you're all great:)**

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><p>"You are going to look gorgeous in this dress!" Violet tells me. I shrug, and drift off into my thoughts.<p>

After I was sedated on the hovercraft I went through many surgeries. They fixed my throat and all the cuts and bruises. But they followed my orders, and they did not fix the shape of a smiley face on my stomach, or my acid ruined hand. They did even better than that, actually. They left all of the scars on me, and I was ecstatic. I wanted the horrible memories. I wanted people to be scared of me when I walked by. I deserved it.

I didn't wake up until 3 days after my surgeries, and when I did I didn't do anything. They had many doctors and therapists come to talk to me, but I wouldn't speak. No one will ever know my thoughts I've had during and after the games. No one. Not even Carter.

Eventually they gave up on trying to help me, telling me I was mentally incapable to comprehend what I was doing. I let them believe what they wanted about me, so now I'm officially "crazy" to the capitol.

A few hours ago more doctors came to tell me to go with Violet to get prepared for the post games interview. So that's where I am now, trying to ignore the horrible memories about Ky & Juniper & Marigold & Annabelle; and trying to think of the good.

Violet hands me a blue dress, it's simple. She says it will make me look less thin; I look so tiny and shrunken now it's scary. I put it on over my head, telling Violet I don't want her to cover up any of the scars, so she leaves them. I want the capitol to see what they put me through; if only they could see the smiley face on my stomach. It is a strapless dress, so you can see them all along my chest and arms. Along with my ruined skin-graphed hand, I look scary.

I look at myself in the mirror. The dress is actually beautiful; the color looks good on me. I examine all of the scars, my brown curly hair, and my makeup.

"Come on now, you look great! We have to get going!" So she takes my bad hand (as I call it) and guilds me down the hall to another room. I hear the crowd; we must be under the stage. I don't like it here. I feel so bad. There are 4 other people that have every right to be here, more than that actually. But I should have known before the games that they all would have had to die if I wanted to get home to Trixie.

Violet puts me onto a metal platform like the one I had to rise into the arena. I wait there for a few minutes. A tube slowly comes down over me, and memories of the arena come flooding back. I hate this. I want to go home.

I rise up, and all the lights and sound from the crowd is crazy. I manage a very tiny smile, and silently tip toe over to my seat. "Hello, Ms Stone!" Caesar says with a huge smile.

"Hi Caesar…" I whisper.

"Before we begin the recap, how does it feel to be a victor?" He asks me. I take a second to think.

"Well, I'm glad I survived. Even if I have all these scars-" I motion to my chest and arms, "mentally along with physically."

He nods in understanding, "And how are you coping with Ky's death?"

Tears well up in my eyes, having to think about him, and one falls down my face. The crowd is dead silent waiting for my answer. "It's hard. But I know he would want me to try my hardest to move on, he told me himself." My voice breaks, and I let the tears flow freely.

The host gives me a very sad smile, "Ah yes. We all heard. Are you ready to watch your recaps?"

In my brain I'm shouting no and wanting to run away. But In reality I just nod.

They come on, and it shows the bloodbath, focusing on me killing the two people. I gulp. It was the boy from 7 and the girl from 9. I feel so horrible, I didn't even remember I killed that 9 girl. All this time I thought I killed two boys.

Then it just shows the games, I close my eyes and shut my ears from Marigold's death to Juniper's death. Then Caesar nudges me. I open to see Ky & the girl fighting.

I start sobbing silently. The girl eventually dies, and then it's just me and Ky. I don't want to watch this, but I have too.

I break down completely watching it. I can't believe it actually happen. Caesar takes my hand and rubs my back while I cry.

Then I see him take his last breath, and our kiss. I squeeze my eyes shut, and start to talk. "You know what Caesar? I really loved that boy, he was one of my best friends. And you know why he's dead? Because your fucking games killed him!" I shout right in his face.

The crowd, that was once sobbing and crying along with me, is dead silent.

Caesar doesn't know what to do or say, so I continue. I don't think I can get in much trouble anyways, because I'm considered crazy. "He could be alive right now if it weren't for the games! Wait a second let me change that," I turn to the crowd and scream as loud as I can, "He SHOULD be alive right now! These fucking games are cruel! How can you people watch all these innocent children die every year?"

Then, me being the crazy kid I am, starts bursting out laughing like I did in the games. I shove my legs over the edge of the stage, letting them dangle, and begin rocking back and forth while I laugh. Everyone is silent listening to me, and everyone is speechless. They've never seen this happen before.

Caesar clears his throat, "Um… well then. That was... interesting?" I continue laughing, in a weird psychotic way. Peace keepers come and surround me, lifting me up. One slings me over his shoulder, and I continue laughing as I punch his back. No one says a word to me, until we are by the train. "I just spoke with president snow, and he said he will let that one slip, because you are not mentally stable. Just watch your back." One of them tells me before pushing me into the train; I fall flat on my face.

I just lie there, until Esmeralda, Mitchell & Penelope come. "Oh, Gemma. You shouldn't have done that." Esmeralda says in a motherly voice. I shrug, acting normal again now.

Mitchell burst out laughing, and raises his hand to give me a high 5. I accept it, and start laughing with him. "Good Job, Gemma! I'm glad you're safe."

I smile at him, and then hug Esmeralda. "Me too." She whispers to me.

"Can we go home now, guys?" I ask them in a childish voice.

"Definitely!" Esmeralda tells me as the train lurches to life. "Oh! I have some good news for you, by the way."

"What?" I ask eagerly.

"It's about Trixie."

I get frantic, "What is it Esmeralda!"

"She said her first word while you were in the arena, Carter sent a letter."

I smile brightly, thinking of Trixie saying her word. "Well, what was it?"

"Mama." She says with a huge smile.

I grin at her, and then walk to the table where I plop down. I call an Avox over. "Can I have three scoops of chocolate ice cream with caramel on it, please?"

He nods and walks away to get it.

I finally figured out sitting there at that table with my ice cream, that Ky was right, I can't dwell on his death. He, along with my other friends, would want me to move on for my daughter, and remember the good memories of them instead of the bad.


	16. Link to Sequel!

.net/s/7842855/1/The_Promise_of_a_Victor

Thanks everyone, and here's the link to the sequel! Check it out :)


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